It’s a beautiful day in East Hartford, Conn. and the No. 1 Maryland Terrapins have officially done it. After a 9-7 win over the No. 7-seed Cornell on Monday afternoon for Memorial Day, Maryland clinched an undefeated season and secured the National Championship title for the fourth time in history.
Maryland, 23-0, becomes the first program to complete a perfect season in the sport since Virginia in 2006. While Cornell, 14-11, sought their second National title since their last win in 2017, the two last standing opponents dueled for a National Championship title and the game was intense to say the least. In fact, the last time the two battled for the NCAA Championship title was in 1976.
CJ Kirst scored his 12th goal in the NCAA tournament just eight minutes into the first period with a nice straight cut to goal, starting Cornell’s lead at 1-0.
Shortly after a close save by goalie Logan McNaney, Jack Brennan assisted Eric Malever for a beautiful cut on goal, securing them the tie. Anthony DeMaio was not far behind with the hat trick, leaving a soft cushion for Maryland before the end of the first quarter.
What began as a sluggish start for the undefeated Terrapins, quickly turned into strategic ball movement. Four goals in just four minutes left them with a 4-1 lead going into the second period.
Two minutes into the second period, the Terps fly down the field for yet another goal. The transition was so smooth and defenseman Owen Prybylski raised the score to a 5-1 lead.
Kirst made up for Cornell’s sloppy turnover with a nice dodge to goal following an assist from Michael Long. The Terps led 5-2 four minutes into the second quarter.
With five minutes left to go before the half, DeMaio reamed another to the top left corner of the goal for his second first quarter hat trick in the NCAA Tournament, upping the Terps’ lead to 6-2, with all six goals being those of assists.
Maryland lost by one point in the National Championship last year against Virginia, after also having an undefeated season. It’s no wonder the Terps were determined.
Kyle Long delivered a strike to Logan Wisnauskas, the No. 1 pick in the PLL draft and Maryland’s all-time points leader, with only a minute and a half to go.
Maryland led Cornell 7-2 at the end of the first half.
After a quiet start to the third quarter, Wisnauskas drove a bullet into the top left corner making it his 13th goal in the NCAA Tournament. But it didn’t stop there. Wisnauskas followed with a quick assist to midfielder Jonathan Donville for a second goal in the matter of 42 seconds, raising Maryland’s lead to 9-2.
Big Red Midfielder Aidan Blake showed up with his first goal of the game, and his first goal since March 26, after an assist from attackman John Piatelli, lowering Maryland’s cushion to only a six-point lead.
With an assist from Billy Coyle at the start of the final quarter, Long snags another goal for Cornell, reducing Maryland’s lead to only five goals at 9-4.
The pressure set in for the Big Red but nothing seemed to be getting past junior goalie McNaney, who was determined to keep the Terps undefeated as they clinched the title.
Momentum shifted as junior attackman Spencer Wirtheim threw a great assist to sophomore middie Hugh Kelleher and then went on to score one himself, loosening Maryland’s lead even more.
With one minute to go, Piatelli secured another goal for Cornell, who then were only down by two – talk about a second wind. But the Big Red’s comeback was not enough to steal the lead.
And that was that. With a final score of 9-7, the undefeated Terrapins are still undefeated as they now hold their fourth National Championship title.