No. 8 Terps top No. 1 Penn State
have to play 60 minutes and really start fast because they’re a team that usually gets off the bus fast. So I’m really proud. Total team effort.”
Maryland, which has scored 15 goals in each of its past three games — all wins — flexed its muscles in several key categories. The Terps outshot the Nittany Lions 40-27, collected 34 ground balls to Penn State’s 16, and won 20 of 30 faceoffs.
In fact, Maryland showed just how to own a first half. Not only did the team carry a 10-6 lead into halftime, but it also led 27-7 in shots, 19-9 in ground balls and 13-5 in faceoffs at the break.
The Terps scored the game’s first two goals on individual efforts from Kelly just 43 seconds into the first quarter and Rambo with 12:31 remaining. Maryland scored four of the first five goals and never trailed or tied.
“I thought since winning a lot of faceoffs in the beginning, we just had the ball more and a lot of possession time,” said Rambo, who has 212 career points to move past Frank Urso for fourth on the school’s all-time scoring list and trail Ray Altman by two points for third. “It was a huge part of this game because their offense is so good. … We just executed pretty well.”
Although Penn State entered the game with the fourth-best faceoff specialist in Division I in freshman Gerard Arceri (67.5 percent on 154-for-228 and 88 ground balls), he went just 5-for-15 with one loose ball Saturday. That’s because Maryland’s duo of sophomore Austin Henningsen (11-for-19, two ground balls) and senior Jon Garino Jr. (9-for-11, seven ground balls) neutralized any advantage the Nittany Lions had at the X.
Henningsen and Garino were aided by teammates on the wings such as junior long-stick midfielder Matt Neufeldt (four ground balls), senior short-stick defensive midfielder Isaiah Davis-Allen (four), sophomore longstick midfielder Nick Brozowski (three) and sophomore short-stick defensive midfielder Wesley Janeck (three).
“I think the faceoffs were huge,” Tillman said. “We just saw last week against Ohio State that they do such a good job of controlling the ball and being patient that it really wore down Ohio State.
“So we were concerned about the same thing. We wanted to push when we could and certainly get some transition, and we got some. But then if we couldn’t, we just wanted to make sure that we got organized and obviously tried to get into a rhythm.” Penn State 3 3 Maryland 6 4 Goals: PS—O’Keefe 3, Ament 2, Aponte 2, Sutton 2, Keenan, Spillane; M—Kelly 4, Rambo 4, Heacock 3, Chisolm, Henningsen, Maltz, Rotanz. Assists: PS—Ament 2, Aponte, Craig, Keenan; M—Rambo 2, Rotanz 2, Heacock, Kelly. Saves: PS—Kneese 10; M—Morris 6.