No. 3-seed Maryland men’s lacrosse has played in seven of the first ten Big Ten tournament championships since the lacrosse conference was founded in 2015. 

The Terps had a chance to make it eight in 11 years in a rematch with No. 2-seed Penn State. 

That didn’t happen. 

Maryland was dominated by the Nittany Lions in the first meeting, but won four of its last five games. It took care of Rutgers in the first round and looked poised to reach the Big Ten Tournament final and take on arch-rival Johns Hopkins.

On Thursday in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, Maryland got outclassed by Penn State for a second time this season, falling 8-6.

Now, the Terps’ NCAA tournament chances are in jeopardy. 

Early on, it looked like the Terps would be able to continue their momentum from its 13 goal performance against Rutgers. They scored their first goal just minutes into the game. Eric Spanos fired the ball past Preston Hawkins, surpassing his point total from the two teams’ first matchup.

That would be the only offense Maryland created in the first half.

The Terps attempted 16 total shots following their goal, but only five were on goal, with Hawkins being able to save all of them without much trouble.

It would take almost 30 minutes of play for Maryland to get its next goal on offense, coming at the hands of Leo Johnson. 

Johnson scored twice in the third quarter to single-handedly keep Maryland in the game; the offense, aside from the Terps’ leading scorer, could not provide any support. Johnson’s two goals were the only real chances of the quarter.

In the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, Maryland beat Rutgers by dominating the specialist game. Henry Dodge was nearly perfect on face-offs and Brian Ruppel stifled the Rutgers offense, bailing the Terps’ backline out on multiple occasions.

That advantage completely flipped against the Nittany Lions.

Brian Ruppel played one of his worst games since the beginning of the season, making just five saves for a lowly .385 save percentage. Ruppel had been playing some of his best lacrosse as of late, but looked like the early-season version of himself that struggled mightily.

Rupel had come up clutch a plethora of times when the Terps needed it most, but late against Penn State, he could not make the saves needed to give his team a chance.

When it comes to face-offs, Maryland was not uncharacteristically terrible, something that was the case in the Terps’ first meeting with Penn State as well. Dodge won just 40% of his face-offs while Jonah Carrier won only 37.5%.

For a team that struggles to create offense, face-off dominance has been Maryland’s best way to get extra chances to score. It also creates a rhythm on offense that the Terps struggle to create otherwise.

Maryland showed some offense late in the game. The Terps scored three goals in the fourth quarter, half of their total for the game.

The Penn State lead was cut to just one multiple times, and when Braden Erksa scored with over six minutes remaining, Maryland had a chance to even up the score in the final moments. 

It would be the specialists who would come back to bite the Terps, with Henry Dodge losing a key face-off. 

Penn State secured the groundball and Jon King scored just 10 seconds later.

Maryland would have one more chance to tie the game, but Penn State would again score a goal from a face-off, with Brian Ruppel not being able to keep the game within one.

The Terps now have no more chances remaining to boost their resume in the eyes of the committee. With selection looming on Sunday, Maryland will have to hope the committee believes it has done enough to be selected. 

If not, Maryland would miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002, excluding the canceled 2020 season.