High-Flying Maryland Lacrosse Takes to the West Coast
The thriving #2 Maryland Terrapins (6-1) are headed to Costa Mesa, Calif. this Saturday to face off against the #20 North Carolina Tar Heels (6-3) in the annual Pacific Coast Shootout.
The Terps are coming off of a pivotal road win against #8 Villanova in which senior midfielder Connor Kelly scored his 100th goal as a Maryland Terrapin. Kelly currently ranks ninth in the country on terms of total points this season with 39.
The victory against #8 Villanova solidified Maryland’s position at #2 in the Division I rankings. The only school with a better ranking than the Terps is #1 Albany, who defeated the Terps by one goal in College Park two weeks ago. The loss to #1 Albany is the Terps’ sole defeat to this point in the season.
Maryland’s next opponent, the #20 North Carolina Tar Heels, are in the midst of a three-game losing streak. Consecutive losses to #5 Denver, #19 Hofstra and unranked Richmond have nearly dropped the Tar Heels out of the Top 20.
The Tar Heels are led by attackmen Chris Cloutier and Andy Matthews alongside midfielders William Perry and Tanner Cook. Matthews, a graduate of Baltimore’s Gilman School, ranks 17th in the country in assists with 17 so far this season. Cloutier, a product of the well-known Hill Academy in Canada, is aggressive and accurate offensively with 44 shots on goalĀ to this point in the 2018 campaign.
The matchup between the #2 Terrapins and #20 Tar Heels will begin at 10 p.m. on Saturday, March 24. No information has been released yet regarding if and where the game will be televised.