No. 4 Maryland men’s lacrosse uses dominant second-half to defeat No. 13 Penn State

(Photo Courtesy of Maryland Athletics.)

Jared Bernhardt calmly caught the feed from Logan Wisnauskas, took several steps to his right and fired a peak shelf shot by Colby Kneese, cementing his status in elite company every bit just the sixth Terp ever to score 200 career points.

That play came off a terrific effort by Bubba Fairman who stuck with the play on the ride, dislodging the stick and ball from Penn State defender Gerald Firaldi Jr. Once over again, the Terps' ride and ability to cause turnovers on both ends of the field played a central part in the 13-vii victory.

Maryland (2-0 B1G) acquired 14 of Penn Land'southward (0-2 B1G) 23 turnovers playing with a relentless persistence on both ends of the field. Nonetheless, Maryland struggled with turnovers also finishing with 15 as it also lost 17 of 24 faceoffs.

Penn State'south prolific criminal offence was held largely in check as Mac O'Keefe, ane of the all-time goal scorers in the nation, finished with just 1 goal on five shots. He was unable to become his easily free on most possessions as he was hounded on each set on, primarily by Nick Grill.

"Hats off to the defensive guys and obviously Logan played arguably his best game," head coach John Tillman said. "I loved how coordinated the guys were. I thought coach [Jesse Bernhardt] did a neat task preparing for Penn State. I thought the guys played well together."

Logan McNaney was excellent, finishing with a career-high xvi saves, leaving the Nittany Lions with minimal space to shoot. McNaney'south positioning was spot-on all night, every bit he squared upwardly to shooters and macerated their angles to shoot.

"I felt like he was pretty locked in all week," Tillman said of McNaney. "He's awesome to piece of work with, he takes everything in stride. I know he was pretty excited about this week merely because he knows how good Penn Country is. He knew we really need him to play him well."

Bernhardt paced the Terps offensively with seven points (3G, 4A), displaying tremendous field vision and footwork all-night long. Daniel Maltz tacked on 5 points (4G, 1A), while Wisnauskas also added five points (3G, 2A) of his ain.

The opening 30 minutes revealed some early season rust as both teams combined for 20 turnovers, with some poor passes and missed ground balls in the open field. Penn Country came out firing with the starting time vii shots of the contest, and midfielder Dan Reaume opened the scoring with a loftier shot elevation-shelf.

However, Maryland responded with a trio of goals, one by Kyle Long and ii by Wisnauskas. The third goal of that run was the virtually impressive as it was a prime example of Maryland converting defense into offense.

After a McNaney save on TJ Malone, defender Brett Makar cleared the brawl into the offensive zone, baiting the defense similar he was going to shoot. He drew the slide, fed Bernhardt who dished to Maltz. So Wisnauskas completed the tic-tac-toe passing for his second goal.

Penn State responded with iii consecutive goals to take the lead four-three, and O'Keefe capped off the run by making the Terps pay for a failed clear. Goals by Fairman and Bernhardt gave the Terps a narrow five-4 lead entering the break.

In the 3rd quarter, Maryland seized all momentum headlined past Bernhardt, Maltz and Long. Maltz and Long connected on the get-go 2 goals of the third quarter, with Long showing precision passing and Maltz executing exquisitely timed cuts. Both goals put Maryland up by three once once more.

"The 3rd quarter was huge for us, just got into a little bit of rhythm," Tillman said. "Started spinning the ball a little bit more, which was great."

Then, it was Bernhardt's time to take over with consecutive goals. The first came on tremendous individual endeavour taking advantage of the space inside on the defender and so tip-toeing around the crease for an in-tight finish. The 2d came on the aforementioned feed from Wisnauskas, placing him in rarified air.

"I thought he did a footling bit of everything today," Tillman said of Bernhardt. "He's got a very complete game. He tin can play with the ball, he tin can play without the brawl."

Penn Country briefly found momentum with back-to-back goals from Malone and Jack Kelly, which cut the deficit to ix-6 with fourteen:07 remaining. After virtually vii minutes of scoreless action, featuring three saves past McNaney, the Terps offense found its rhythm once over again.

And so, Maryland responded with four goals in a 1:48 span, taking the life out of the Nittany Lions' comeback hopes. Maltz scored a pair of goals, continuing to find holes in Penn State's defense, while Wisnauskas and Anthony DeMaio each found the dorsum of the net besides.

Maryland is now set to return to College Park as it hosts in-state rival Johns Hopkins next Saturday at Maryland Stadium.

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Source: http://wmucsports.net/no-4-maryland-mens-lacrosse-uses-dominant-second-half-to-defeat-no-13-penn-state/

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