An unbeaten #14 ranked Penn Quaker Men’s Lacrosse team (2-0 Overall, 0-0 in the Ivy League) will face off against the #7 ranked University of Maryland Terrapins in College Park, Maryland on February 24. Penn has played both of its games tightly winning by two goals in the first contest of the season and winning last week against Saint Joseph’s by two goals in Philadelphia. Maryland on the other hand won big at the Naval Academy defeating Navy 8-1 in week 1 of the season before losing to #14 Yale in New Haven 10-6 on February 21.
Penn is coming off a very successful last season, as they went 11-4 in the regular season, including a 4-2 record in the Ivy League. They qualified for the conference tournament and won the championship in shocking fashion after knocking off #11 seed Cornell, 11-10 and #12 seed Harvard 7-5 before falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Drexel.
Maryland had success in the ACC, especially at home going 8-0 and 5-4 on the road They made it to the NCAA Semifinals by defeating Cornell and Bryant before falling to #6 Notre Dame 11-6 in that semifinal game.
Maryland is averaging 7.00 goals so far this season on 34 shots per game while Penn averages 10.50 goals per game on 33 shots. Opponents are winning 69 percent of
face-offs against Maryland putting them at a disadvantage of possession to begin the game while Penn holds possession 62% of the time to start the game. Penn turns the ball over more than league average (31-28) compared to Maryland which turned the ball over only 19 times compared to the league average of 24. Both teams are also more penalized compared to league average.
The game promises to be entertaining with two highly disciplined and quality teams duking it out in non-conference action. Penn looks to continue on the road of perfection while the Terrapins look to right the ship and put another win on the board.
