The Terps look for their fifth Big Ten Tournament title in 10 years.
At the beginning of the season, when he sat down to discuss the upcoming season, Maryland attackman Daniel Kelly was clear in the team’s aims.
“Our goal is never to reach the national championship, it’s to win the national championship,” Kelly said. “People long before us built the standard, and it’s our chance to live the standard out everywhere, every day.”
Against Penn State on Thursday, the Terps played below their usual standard. Kelly almost singlehandedly willed his team to victory with a career-high five goals. Now, the Terps will play with the Big Ten trophy on the line — the next best thing compared to the national championship. It won’t be easy to win it, though, as a dominant Ohio State team eager for revenge meets Maryland from the other side of the Big Ten bracket.
In a Saturday night showdown, the No. 2-seed Terps will compete against the No. 1-seed Buckeyes for the Big Ten title. The conference championship game will begin at 8:00 p.m. and broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
What happened last time
For head coach Nick Myers and Ohio State, everything has simply clicked this season. The Buckeyes won their first-ever Big Ten silverware by finishing top of the conference with a 4-1 record after a typo meant Ohio State wasn’t even named in the Big Ten’s preseason coaches’ poll.
The Buckeyes’ 13 wins so far are their most in a season since 2017, when they finished runners-up against Maryland in both the Big Ten and NCAA title games. That mirrors a recent trend of Maryland getting the better of Ohio State — the Terps have won nine of the last 10 meetings.
Maryland and Ohio State faced off just 21 days ago, when Maryland pulled off a complete, 13-8 victory. Ohio State’s eight goals were the second-fewest they have scored all season — they didn’t beat Maryland in its set 6-on-6 defense for 40 minutes.
Offensively, Maryland found success through its midfield, which combined to score seven of the 13 goals. The Terps also had eight unassisted goals, with players successfully dodging and consistently winning one-on-one matchups against their Ohio State counterparts. Maryland will need to find a repeat performance: Matthew Keegan (three goals) was the only starting midfielder to score on Thursday, with Elijah Stobaugh’s goal wrapping up the total of four from the midfield.
What’s happened since
Maryland’s Big Ten semifinal win against Penn State is a difficult one to evaluate. The Terps won just 18% of faceoffs, putting Logan McNaney and the defense under the most sustained pressure they have dealt with all season. With a lot of skill and a little bit of luck, the Terps successfully minimized Penn State’s damage all game long.
The Maryland offense looked less than convincing, but they had so little of the ball in the second half that creating momentum was near-impossible. In the postseason, though, the aim of the game is to survive and advance, and the Terps did exactly that.
For Ohio State, the formula has been simple this season: win. It didn’t get off to a good start, dropping its game against Utah 19-13 on Feb. 1. But it has been three months since that game, and the Buckeyes have lost exactly once — against Maryland.
Ohio State’s semifinal game was a far more comfortable affair compared to Maryland’s — the Buckeyes dispatched Rutgers 11-7, maintaining a multi-goal advantage for the final 39 minutes of the game. Alex Marinier and Gannon Matthews each recorded hat tricks, and goalkeeper Caleb Fyock stopped 14 of 21 shots on goal.
Three things to know
1. Can Maryland recover from the X? A total collapse at the faceoff circle doomed Maryland against the Nittany Lions. Maryland won just 4-of-22 faceoffs on Thursday against Penn State’s backup specialist — Jonah Carrier went 4-of-15, and Shea Keethler (four), Mitchell Lloyd (two) and AJ Larkin (one) didn’t win any of their attempts. Ohio State’s 50.3% win rate entering the week ranks 38th in the country, and Maryland won 60% of faceoffs in the first matchup — how Maryland responds will be the biggest storyline headed into the game.
2. Have the Terps figured Fyock out? The Ohio State goalkeeper nicknamed “Big Tasty” has made a habit of snacking on opponents’ shots — his 61.1% save percentage is second in the country. But in their last game, Maryland found success shooting at his feet, with the 6-foot-2, 297-pound goalkeeper having trouble getting to the ground for saves. The Terps’ strategy was obvious, but it was successful — time will tell if it works again.
3. Title on tap for the Terps. Maryland has won four Big Ten Tournaments, two more than any other program in the conference’s fledgling history. But for Maryland, a win Saturday would be a good omen — each of the four years the Terps have won the Big Ten Tournament, they have appeared in the NCAA championship game.