Conference Play for Men's Lacrosse Begins Saturday Against No. 11 Maryland

SCOUTING THE TERRAPINS

• Ranked No. 1 in the country in the preseason and week one polls, Maryland now sit at eleventh in this week’s Inside Lacrosse poll.
• The Terrapins rank fourth nationally and first in the Big Ten for face-off win percentage at 62.1 percent, with senior Henry Dodge leading the nation in face-off win percentage at 70.5 percent.
• Senior goalie Brian Ruppel leads the Big Ten in saves per game, avergaing 10.67.
• Maryland’s attack is led by senior Braden Erksa, grad student Leo Johnson, and freshman Matt Higgins, all who rank in the top eight of assists per game in the Big Ten.
• Johnson also ranks third in the Big Ten in goals per game, avergaing 2.83.
• The Terrapins excel on man-down defense, ranking second nationally with a percentage of 91.7.
• Maryland hold a 90.9% clearing percentage, good for eighth in the country and second in the Big Ten.
• The Terrapins were national runners-up in 2025, losing to Cornell in the championship. 

LAST TIME VS. MARYLAND

• The No. 17 Penn State men’s lacrosse team fell to No. 6 North Carolina, 14-10, at KSU Soccer Stadium in Kennesaw, Ga., Saturday afternoon. Penn State dropped to 0-1 with the season-opening loss, while the Tar Heels opened the season 1-0.
• Senior Matthew Mackrides and juniors Nick Dolik and Kyle VanThof tallied a pair of goals each, while senior Jack Forster led the squad with three helpers. Senior Ryan Link matched a game high with five ground balls. Sophomore Austin Kaut made 15 saves while North Carolina goalkeeper Steven Rastivo stopped 18 Penn State attempts.
• The Tar Heels controlled the ground ball and faceoff battles, 40-28, and, 21-9, respectively. Penn State converted on 3-of-6 extra-man opportunities while North Carolina went 1-for-2.
• North Carolina, which took a 2-1 first-quarter lead, opened the scoring with Mark McNeill’s goal at 2:33. Following a pushing penalty on the Tar Heels’ Logan Corey, freshman Pat Manley tallied his first collegiate goal at 4:45 of the period. Sophomore Shane Sturgiscollected an assist on the play.
• The Tar Heels outscored Penn State, 6-4, in the second quarter en route to the 8-5 halftime advantage. North Carolina potted the frame’s first three goals in a 5:37 span before Link’s marker cut the lead to 5-2. Following the Tar Heel’s third straight goal, Link controlled the ensuing faceoff and scored with 9:15 left in the half.
• Marcus Holman tallied his second goal of the half with 4:35 remaining to recapture the Tar Heels’ four-goal lead. Kaut then stopped North Carolina’s next two attempts before Dolik responded for Penn State with 3:08 left in the half to make it a 6-3 contest.
• The Tar Heels tallied twice more in a 15-second span to take an 8-3 lead, but Penn State responded with the final two goals of the stanza. Sturgis tallied his first goal of the season on the next possession, and Mackrides made it an 8-5 game with a man-up goal with 19 seconds remaining with Forster registering an assist on the goal.
• The beginning of the third quarter mirrored that of the second with North Carolina scoring the first three markers, including one man-up tally, in the first 4:47. Dolik then netted his second of the game with 8:28 remaining before sophomore Tom LaCrosse tallied less than two minutes later to make it an 11-7 game.
• In the first possession of the final frame, VanThof brought Penn State to within three, 11-8, just 25 seconds into the period. North Carolina answered twice in 34-second span before VanThof tallied a man-up goal for his second of the period with 8:36 left. The Tar Heels responded with 3:20 left before Mackrides’ goal from Forster with 31 seconds remaining in the game accounted for the 14-10 final.

TEWAARATON TIME

• Penn State senior Alex Ross and sophomore Hunter Aquino were each named to the initial 2026 Tewaaraton watch list.
• The prestigious award, which recognizes the top man and woman lacrosse athletes across all divisions.
• In the past two seasons, Penn State has had a pair of Tewaaraton Award nominees (in mid-April, the Tewaaraton commitee narrows down the watch list to 25 names per gender to created the nominee’s list). Matt Traynor was a two-time recognizee (2024, 2025) and Jack Fracyon was named to the list in 2024.

LAST TIME OUT

• No. 9 Penn State men’s lacrosse fell in a 10-8 slugfest Saturday evening to No. 5 Carolina at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• In addition to missing six clears, the Nittany Lions lost the faceoff battle for the first time this season, leading to fewer offensive possessions. Still, the Nittany Lion defense held its own, allowing just 10 goals on a season-low 37 shots from the Tar Heels. PSU dropped to 4-3 on the season, while UNC improves to 7-1.
• The PSU offense saw a trio of multi-goal scorers in freshman Jack Iannantuono, sophomore Chase Robertson, and redshirt-freshman Andrew Beard. All three tallied two goals apiece. Beard also tallied an assist to lead all point scorers.
• Redshirt-sophomore Liam Matthews and graduate student John Jude Considine rounded out the goal scorers with one each. Redshirt-senior Michael Faraone and junior Kyle Lehman posted an assist to finish out the score sheet.
• Freshman netminder Preston Hawkins made eight stops in the contest where neither goalkeeper posted a save percentage about .500. His defensive unit helped force 19 UNC turnovers, 12 by direct cause.
• Senior Alex Ross caused a trio of turnovers and scooped 3 groundballs, while senior Will Costin vacuumed five groundballs on the day.
• Penn State’s faceoff unit of Colby Baldwin and Reid Gills won eight of the 22 spins, forcing Brady Wambach to his third fewest faceoff wins all season.

WEEKLY LOOKS

• For the first time since week two of the 2020 season (February 18) and just the third time ever since the Big Ten began awarding weekly position group honors in 2015, the conference offices announced a sweep of the weekly men’s lacrosse awards on March 11. Nittany Lions Reid Gills, Preston Hawkins, Kyle Lehman, and Alex Ross took home the specialist, freshman, offensive player, and defensive player of the week honors, respectively, after the team’s 19-7 win over Cornell. It marks the first time in Penn State program history that PSU swept the Big Ten weekly honors. Only Maryland and Ohio State have done it before.
• No. 7 Cornell, which entered this past weekend as the nation’s third best team at the faceoff, was bullied at the X by the tandem of Reid Gills and Colby Baldwin. Gills posted an impressive faceoff win percentage over 80 percent, far exceeding the Nittany Lions average this season. The 18 team wins at the dot mark the most surrendered by the Big Red since February 25, 2025, and just the fourth time Cornell has lost the faceoff battle since that date. Gills alone went 13-for-16 at the faceoff, scooping nine groundballs. In addition to being named the Big Ten’s Specialist of the Week, Gills was also recognized nationally as part of the USILA Team of the Week.
• Hawkins allowed just six goals from the reigning national champions, posting the lowest goals allowed average of his career. In the contest, the freshman made nine saves for a 60.0 save percentage. A threat out of the cage as well, he caused a pair of turnovers on picked passes, and scooped five groundballs, tied for the most by any Penn State non-faceoff athlete in the game.
• Lehman led the Penn State offense this past weekend, pushing the Nittany Lions to a fourth non-conference win. The junior posted six goals and dished an apple for seven points on the day, marking the most by a Nittany Lion since Matt Traynor in the 2025 NCAA Quarterfinals. A gritty attackman, two of Lehman six tallies came unassisted. The attacker also scooped a pair of groundballs in the outing.
• Ross captains a stingy Penn State defense that has analytically seen one of the best turnarounds in college lacrosse. His unit allowed just seven goals from the Big Red on their 40 possessions and had the nation’s best defensive efficiency this week. Ross’s unit allowed just two shots the entire first quarter, helping his team to a 7-0 lead after the first 15. Continuing to be a threat in transition, the senior tallied his second point of the season, this time on an assist. Defensively, he accounted for four groundballs and three caused turnovers.

PRESEASON NODS

• After putting the nation on notice in 2025, sophomore Hunter Aquino and senior Alex Ross raked in the preseason honors this year.
• Aquino, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was recognized as a Second Team All-American by USILA and Inside Lacrosse, and earned a third-team spot on USA Lacrosse Magazines list.
• Ross was was a second-team honoree according to Inside Lacrosse, while he picked up third-team honors from USA Lacrosse Magazine.
• Senior captian Jon King joined the duo on Inside Lacrosse's list, earning an honorable mention recognition.
• The trio were named Big Ten Players to Watch by the conference offices prior to the start of the 2026 slate.

The USILA preseason list also recognined short-stick Brendan Leary as a Third-Team Preseason All-American, alongside Aquino.