The Terps take on the high-flying Hoyas with a chance to advance to the semifinals.
As the NCAA Tournament has whittled down to the final eight teams, No. 2-seed Maryland men’s lacrosse can look out at the field and see several familiar names.
The Terps’ regular-season schedule featured five of the other quarterfinalists. In games against Richmond, No. 6 Syracuse, No. 3 Princeton, Notre Dame and two against No. 5 Penn State, the Terps have gone 6-0.
Only two teams the Terps didn’t meet remain: No. 1 Cornell — who the Terps could only meet in the championship — and Maryland’s next opponent, Georgetown. Maryland did play the Hoyas in a January preseason scrimmage, but the familiarity with any team doesn’t matter much to head coach John Tillman.
“Scrimmages are scrimmages, so, you know, take it with a grain of salt,” Tillman said. “You want to watch some of the new stuff too, just because it seems like they are doing some things differently… we just want our kids prepared and ready to roll.”
The Terps play Georgetown on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, and will be available on ESPN+ and ESPNU.
Georgetown Hoyas (12-4, 4-1 Big East)
The story of the season for Georgetown has been the gradual improvement of its offense. Looking at its numbers, it’s hard to imagine Sunday’s rendition will play anything like the Hoyas team that head coach Kevin Warne, an ex-assistant coach under Tillman, trotted out against Maryland in January.
The Hoyas had a roller-coaster start to their season, with wins against Loyola and Penn balanced by losses to Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame. The Hoyas exited February 2-2 averaging nine goals per game.
Hhe Hoyas found their feet offensively over the next seven games. They went 5-2, with double-digit goals in all of its first six games. A 13-12 loss against Richmond, where a furious fourth-quarter comeback fell just short, was excusable. The last game of the middle stretch — a dismal, 7-3 home loss against unranked Denver — was not. Even including this blip, though, Georgetown was up to over 11.5 goals per game. Take the Denver contest away, and it averaged 13 goals per game.
That loss to Denver sparked something in the Hoyas. In the five games since, Georgetown has gone undefeated, winning the Big East championship and trouncing No. 7-seed Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. And the jump has come at the hands of the offense, which has averaged 17.8 goals per game in the last month.
Scoring 89 goals in five games beats any five-game stretch for Cornell, the top-ranked offense in the nation. It’s been a balanced run, too — the fewest goals Georgetown has scored in a game through this span is 16, which it managed against Villanova in the Big East championship game and against Duke in the NCAA Tournament. The Hoyas are shifting into gear right now and pose a serious threat for the Terps.
Players to know
Aidan Carroll, graduate attacker, No. 12 — Carroll has been the focal point of the Georgetown attack this year, leading the team with 74 points from 48 goals and 26 assists. According to Tillman, “he’s the best player no one talks about.”
Out of all players still active in the tournament, only Cornell’s CJ Kirst has more goals this season than Carroll. And he’s on a hot streak, too — the honorable mention All-American has 14 goals in the Hoyas’ last two outings.
Fulton Bayman, graduate attacker, No. 2 — Bayman was a depth piece on the Notre Dame squad that achieved back-to-back NCAA Tournament victories, but he has shone in his lone season with the Hoyas. He scored a season-high four goals against Duke last weekend and leads Georgetown with 32 assists.
Ty Banks, sophomore defender, No. 17 — Banks was named a 2025 second team All-American after being given an honorable mention in 2024. As the Hoyas’ answer to their opponent’s top attackman, Banks has recorded 22 caused turnovers and 41 ground balls on the year while also pitching in offensively with four points.
Strength
Defending. What almost gets lost in all the conversation about Georgetown’s high-flying offense is that the Hoyas are built on defensive solidity. Their 9.12 goals allowed per game is tied with Ohio State for ninth-best in the nation. Led by Banks and goalkeeper Anderson Moore, who has a 53% save rate on the year, the Hoyas have held opponents to single-digit goals in 10 of 16 games this season — and nobody has scored more than 13 against them.
Weakness
Man-up offense. It’s a little contradictory, but the Hoyas’ potent offense hasn’t been helped by extra man opportunities. Georgetown has converted just eight of 36 power plays — their 22.2% success rate is tied for sixth-worst in Division I.
Three things to know
1. Question marks on faceoffs again. The most important matchup story in every game for the rest of Maryland men’s lacrosse’s season is at the faceoff circle. Georgetown’s freshman faceoff specialist Ross Prince has a 63.7% win rate, second-best among players still active in the NCAA Tournament.
Shea Keethler had an excellent performance against Air Force, winning eight of nine faceoffs. However, Jonah Carrier — who thrived during Keethler’s cold streak — struggled, winning just four of 10. Maryland will need both to be on top of their game Sunday.
2. Century club for Eric Spanos. The senior attackman logged his 100th career point with his first of six goals against Air Force in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Spanos is the third of Maryland’s three starting attackers to reach the milestone this year and the 64th Terp to do it all-time.
3. Final Four berth on the line. The winner of Sunday’s game will advance to college lacrosse’s final weekend, with a date against either No. 3-seed Princeton or No. 6-seed Syracuse upcoming. A Maryland win would lock up the program’s 30th semifinal appearance and eighth such appearance in the last 10 tournaments.