Maryland men’s lacrosse opens season with 11-6 win over Bucknell

Snow lined the sides of the field at Maryland Stadium on Saturday as Maryland defeated Bucknell 11-6 to move to 1-0 on the new season.

It was a strong day for the No. 3 Terps’ young attack unit, as Logan Wisnauskas had the best game of anyone on the field with four goals and one assist. Jared Bernhardt and Anthony DeMaio each chipped in two goals and an assist. Christian Zawadski, Louis Dubick and Roman Puglise all scored one goal apiece.

Saturday’s game also finally gave an answer as to who the starting goalie will be, as Tillman decided to give Danny Dolan the nod in net. Dolan played well, making 11 saves on 17 shots and doing a good job facilitating on clears. He made a turnover or two in some instances on clears, but in all, it was a good first start for the senior.

At the face-off X, head coach John Tillman decided to give Austin Henningsen and Justin Shockey a half each to see what they could do. Henningsen finished 5-of-10, with Shockey going 8-of-11, ultimately giving Maryland a 13-21 advantage. Whether or not Tillman continues to split time between the two or lean on one over the other will be interesting to see.

Although Bucknell lost a good deal of its scoring production from last season, it looked very competent offensively. The Bison finished the game with 32 shots (17 on goal) to Maryland’s 35 (21 on goal), and only turned the ball over 13 times compared to 17 for the Terps.

Frigid temperatures led to sloppiness offensively early on, as Maryland failed to make plays off the dodge and turning the ball over throughout the first half to keep Bucknell in it. The Terps still managed five first-half goals thanks to a pair of goals from Wisnauskas and contributions from the midfield. Heading into the locker room, the lead was 5-3.

Maryland began putting it together into the second half, though, as Wisnauskas continued to heat up and Bernhardt and Louis Dubick got into the action to put the Terps ahead for good.

The Terps took a 9-4 lead into the third quarter, and despite two quick goals from the Bison to cut the lead to three, goals from Bernhardt and DeMaio stretched the lead back to a comfortable five. It was a good show of composure from a young team dealing with a team trying to get it’s way back in the game, shutting the door on any possible comeback with solid defense and a pair of goals to seal it.

Maryland hosts Richmond at 1 p.m. next Saturday.