Maryland (17-0) will face a 17-10 winner against 7th seed Cornell (14-4) and 6th seed Rutgers in the title game on Monday. Terp will be competing in the seventh championship game in 12 seasons under the direction of John Tillman, aiming to be the first undefeated national champion since 2006 Virginia.
Terps has also become the first team to reach a series of title games with undefeated records since 1981-82 North Carolina, which won the championship each season.
The performance wasn’t as overwhelming as Maryland was accustomed to. Terp defeated Vermont and Virginia to reach the ninth semi-final since 2011, but it took more craftsmanship to send Princeton for the second time this season.
“This is a semi-final match, so I expect it to be difficult,” Tillman said. “We won the match with five goals, but didn’t feel like we played great. Sometimes we caught ourselves and said,” It’s a good team we just won. ” Must be like that. “
Eric Peters made 13 saves and Alexander Baldaro scored two goals in the fifth-seeded Tigers (11-5), who made his first semi-final appearance since 2004.
The long absence was extended when a thunderstorm in the area delayed the Cornell-Rutgers match by 3 hours and 38 minutes shortly after the halftime began. Maryland and Princeton University did not progress until 6:28, before the announced crowd of 21,668 people, instead of starting around 2:30 pm.
When the game finally started, Maryland struck the Tigers and built a 5-1 lead by the end of the first quarter after defensive midfielder Baba Fairman gave him a chance to make the transition. Much more worrisome than any other field development was the departure of short-stick midfielder Roman Purisse due to a shoulder injury.
Tillman said he wasn’t sure if Puglise could play on Monday.
“He may want to break his leg and play,” Tillman said. “I love him to death and love his passion. We need to protect him from ourselves — maybe steal his helmet or something.”
Terp extended his lead to 7-2 before Princeton caught the game’s biggest break. Maryland’s long pole, John Gepert, was flagged with a three-minute irreparable penalty for an illegal body check on Princeton’s Bo Pederson’s head.
The Tigers were within 7-4 in half-time, but missed the other three shots in the man-up. When Jonathan Donville found Wisnauskas in the crease when they took ownership of the first equal strength of the third quarter, Terp quickly regained the goal.
“We had too much communication, and it was like what we were trying to do,” McNanny said. “It was a bit noisy there, but there were props in our garrison. I don’t think they were aiming for the goal in those three minutes. [after the goal].. … I think it was very big for us in terms of momentum. Our attacks and defenses have preyed on it. “
Maryland then scored three goals in a 61-second span, with Owen Murphy climbing to 11-4 with a 7-second stretch in the last two.
“They were important,” Tillman said.
Wisnauskas passed Jared Barnhart on the 203rd goal with 1:32 remaining. Entering his final match on Monday, Wisnauskas is ranked fifth in NCAA history.
Saturday also showed McNanny’s love for the NCAA Semifinals. His best junior save career was 17 against Duke, who played in last year’s semifinals in the same field.
Maryland is currently facing the challenge of finishing work for the first time since 2017. And it has solidified its position among the best teams in recent history. Only three teams in the last 30 years have completed the perfect season as champions: Princeton in 1997, Johns Hopkins in 2005 and Virginia in 2006.
On anniversaries, Telp has the opportunity to join the group.
