Maryland men’s lacrosse named the No. 4 overall seed in NCAA Tournament, will host Army in first round

The Terps’ game against the Black Knights is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Maryland men’s lacrosse was named the No. 4 overall seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, it was announced Sunday. As a top-eight seed, the Terps will host Army on May 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Maryland has quite the challenge awaiting it on Saturday when Army comes to town. The Black Knights currently rank second in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 8.71 goals per game. Army enters the tournament with a 12-3 record, winning the Patriot League championship game, 10-8, over Loyola.

Maryland entered the last two tournaments with an undefeated record, but had an inconsistent regular season this year. After defeating Richmond, 15-4, in the season opener, the Terps dropped their first regular season game in nearly three years to Loyola (Md.), 12-7.

Maryland would go on to win five of it next six games — including an overtime win, 14-13, against then-No. 1 Virginia — before dropping two of its final four regular-season games to Michigan and Johns Hopkins, respectively.

The loss to Johns Hopkins solidified the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament for the Terps. Maryland then overcame Rutgers in the first round with relative ease, 14-11, and never trailed in the contest.

The win set up a rematch with Johns Hopkins, and the Terps avenged the earlier defeat. After falling to a 3-0 deficit, Maryland outscored the Blue Jays, 13-6, throughout the final three quarters en route to a 14-9 win, setting up a date with Michigan in the championship game.

Despite being the lower seed, the Wolverines beat the brakes off of Maryland, 14-5, to take home their first Big Ten Tournament championship in program history.

Although conference play came to a disappointing end, the Terps still raked in five All-Big Ten honors.

Graduate defenseman Brett Makar was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a All-Big Ten first-team selection. Junior defenseman Ajax Zappitello and senior faceoff specialist Luke Wierman were also named to the All-Big Ten first team.

Freshman attackman Braden Erksa has grown into the Terps’ go-to guy on the offensive end and earned the program’s first-ever Big Ten Freshman of the Year award.

If Maryland wins its first-round matchup, it will play either No. 5-seed Penn State or Princeton in the quarterfinals.

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