Logan Wisnauskas’ journey to becoming Maryland men’s lacrosse’s all-time leading points scorer

With Maryland leading Rutgers in a crucial Big Ten matchup, fifth-year attacker Logan Wisnauskas was just one goal or assist from history. He sat at 290 career points, tied for the all-time Maryland career point record which belonged to Jared Bernhardt, who finished his career less than a year prior in the 2021 NCAA national championship game.

With Bernhardt and much of the 2017 national championship team in attendance, Wisnauskas thrust himself to the very top of the record books. With eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, Wisnauskas sent a pass towards sophomore attacker Eric Malever, who calmly collected the pass and beat the Rutgers goalie, notching point No. 291 for Wisnauskas.

“[It was] awesome,” Wisnauskas said of breaking the record with Bernhardt in attendance. “He’s one of my best friends… we got to catch up a little bit.”

A native of Sykesville, Maryland, and an alumnus of the prestigious lacrosse program at Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, Wisnauskas has been a force on the lacrosse field in his home state for years. His father Trent won a national championship with Salisbury in 1994, and Logan followed in his footsteps by playing college lacrosse in the Old Line State.

He transferred to Maryland from Syracuse in the summer of 2017, and with a redshirt season under his belt, Wisnauskas quickly made an impact for the Terps.

“You come here and it’s really truly a brotherhood,” Wisnauskas said. “You get to meet a bunch of people and carry those relationships for the rest of your life.”

He made his collegiate debut against Navy on Feb. 10, 2018, and got his first point that day on a goal assisted by Connor Kelly, who was then wearing the No. 1 jersey for Maryland.

Wisnauskas finished the 2018 season with the second-most goals and points ever scored by a freshman at Maryland, scoring 35 goals and adding 15 assists.

During that year, Wisnauskas’ reserved and stoic personality earned him the nickname “Groot” amongst his teammates.

“He just loves to play. He doesn’t really like talking about himself and he’s not braggadocious and I admire that about him,” Maryland head coach John Tillman said.

Wisnauskas’ breakout season came as a sophomore when he put together one of the highest-scoring seasons ever at Maryland with a 79-point 2019 season. His success that year earned him his first career All-American and All-Big Ten honors.

The 2020 season was canceled after only six games, but through those six games, Wisnauskas had a team-high 36 points on 24 goals and 12 assists.

In 2021, he had another 70-plus point season with a 41-goal, 31-assist campaign that earned him First Team All-Big Ten, Inside Lacrosse and USILA Third Team All-American and NCAA All-Tournament Team honors.

Coming back for his final season as Maryland’s primary offensive weapon, the 2022 season presented Wisnauskas with the opportunity to wear the coveted No. 1 jersey after being recognized by wearing No. 12 previously.

“[With] the No. 1 [jersey], there’s so much more than just the points. It’s the person that wears [it],” Tillman said. “They’re unselfish guys, they’re incredibly hard workers, they’re team-first guys and they are guys that I don’t worry about off the field.”

He has fit right into the elite group of players that have previously worn that number in College Park. Through 10 games, Wisnauskas already has 55 points, putting him on pace to break his single-season personal best.

A lot of that can be attributed to Wisnauskas’ dedication and work ethic which have been so instrumental to his on-the-field success.

“It’s Wednesday night in early February, and I’m walking around the stadium. I look up and there’s somebody doing wall ball,” Tillman explained. “I walked in the locker room like ‘who’s doing wall ball out there?’ And [the team says], ‘It’s Logan, it’s Wall Ball Wednesday.’ When a guy who’s that good is still working on his fundamentals and it’s early in the season, the young guys see that.”

Malever, who scored the goal that gave Wisnauskas the record, has looked to No. 1 when trying to improve his own game.

“Logan continuously teaches me some of his shooting, where he places it and how he shoots it,” Malever said. “He’s such a tremendous player.”

With two regular season games and postseason play still remaining in 2022, Wisnauskas is on pace to easily break the 300 career point mark and become the first Terp ever to do so.

“I grabbed him last week and was like ‘[Logan], we’re running out of time here. What am I going to do without you next year?’ And I meant that with all of my heart because he’s meant so much to our program,” Tillman said. “I get a little bit emotional inside just thinking about him not being here.”