Known as the lacrosse capital of the world, Maryland produces some of the best lacrosse athletes in the country. The University of Maryland has reaped the benefits of that player supply, recruiting these elite athletes to play for their program, currently the top men’s lacrosse program in the country. They hold an impressive 18-0 regular season record, and steamrolled their way to an undefeated season, capping it off with a championship win over Cornell.

The Terps had high expectations this year after losing to Virginia in the NCAA championship game last year by one goal. They lost a few weapons, including attackman Jared Bernhardt, winner of the Tewaaraton award, given to the best player in college lacrosse. Head Coach John Tillman pursued players in the transfer portal to make up for lost talent and he reeled in some elite players  from all over the country.

Headlining the transfers is midfielder Jonathan Donville from Cornell. Donville finished the season with 31 goals and 22 assists and was a key part of Maryland’s dominant offense. Another player who made an immediate impact on the field was Villanova transfer and attackman Keegan Khan, who was second on the team in goals, tallying 35 over the course of the season. The last new player who played a vital role in Maryland’s offense was attackman Owen Murphy, who transferred from Johns Hopkins and recorded 34 goals on the season. In addition to these transfers, Maryland’s core from last season remained mostly intact. “The transfers were a very big part of Maryland’s offense,” junior Parker Leibowitz said.

Attackman Logan Wisnauskas was widely regarded as one of the best players of the  season. Wisnauskas was nominated for the Tewaaraton award. After racking up 103 points this past season, Wisnauskas holds the record for most points in a college career by a Terp. In addition to Wisnauskas, midfielder Anthony DeMaio is one of the last players on the current roster who won the championship back in 2017. DeMaio has developed to be one of the best midfielders in all of college lacrosse, raking in 54 points on the season and scoring four goals in the championship game. “Watching these players over the years has been very fun, especially since they are both so good,” junior Ethan Kuan said.

But their attack wasn’t the only deadly part of their team. Goalie Logan McNaney is a brick wall in goal and was a key part of the Terp’s defense. The all-American goalie had a .597 save percentage and tallied 17 saves in the championship game, bailing the rest of the defense out at times. Accompanying him on defense is defensemen Brett Makar, also an all-American. Makar was a leader on a team and locked up everyone he matched up against. “The defense was an integral part of their season,” junior Jessica Winson said.

At the face-off dot, fogo Luke Wiermann played the most important role to the Terp’s destructive offense. With a .661 face-off win percentage, Wiermann’s consistency at the face-off dot allowed the Terp’s offense to go on five-goal streaks in quick succession, which led to them beating their opponents by an average margin of 8.66 goals per game, which is part of the reason why this team is considered to be the greatest of all time.