Both Maryland lacrosse teams are top seeds in the Big Ten tournament

Both the Maryland men’s and women’s lacrosse teams are the top seeds in the 2018 Big Ten tournament. The women beat Northwestern on Thursday to claim the No. 1 seed, while the men defeated Johns Hopkins in a triple-overtime thriller on Sunday to do the same.

The men (11-2, 4-1), who earned a third straight regular season title, will play fourth-seeded Rutgers (9-5, 2-3) Thursday at 5 p.m. ET in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The women (16-1, 6-0), who won their fourth consecutive regular season title, will take on fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins (10-7, 3-3) on Friday at the same time and place.

Johns Hopkins (9-4, 3-2) and Ohio State (8-6, 3-2) are the second and third seeds, respectively, in the men’s tournament, while Michigan and Penn State did not qualify. The Wolverines have yet to earn a trip to the conference tournament in its four-year history, while this is the first time the Nittany Lions have missed out.

Attacker Will Snider’s second goal of Sunday’s game in triple overtime was the decisive moment to earn not only the fourth straight rivalry trophy, but the top seed in the tournament for the Terps. Maryland and Johns Hopkins are now the only two programs to make every Big Ten Tournament since its inception in 2015.

The men’s team beat the Scarlet Knights, 11-10, in College Park earlier this season. Senior midfielder Connor Kelly had four goals and four assists, while freshman Bubba Fairman added an additional hat trick. Dan Morris had 10 saves.

As for the women’s team, it defeated Northwestern, 20-16, earlier this week to earn the top spot in the conference tournament. Megan Whittle and Jen Giles each scored four goals in the offense-heavy matchup.

The Terps defeated their semifinal opponent—Johns Hopkins— earlier this season, 15-5. Caroline Steele led the way with four goals, while Giles, Whittle and Taylor Hensh each recorded hat tricks, too. Megan Taylor had seven saves.

Northwestern and Penn State are the second and third seeds, respectively, in the women’s tournament. The Terps have won the last two tournaments, while the Nittany Lions won the inaugural Big Ten women’s lacrosse tournament in 2015.

All games in both the men’s and women’s tournaments will be televised on the Big Ten Network.