After Another Title Game Letdown, Maryland Vows Not to Forget

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Maryland ended up with another Memorial Day experience certain to remain etched in the memories of its players.

It’s just not the sort the Terrapins had any desire to dwell on for an offseason and beyond.

Second-seeded Maryland’s 13-10 loss to top-seeded Cornell in the NCAA tournament final provided a sobering end for a team defined largely by consistency after scrapping all season to get back to the last afternoon of the season.

As the 15-5 loss to Notre Dame in the 2024 final drove these Terps, Memorial Day’s experience of watching the Big Red celebrate their first national title in 48 years will undoubtedly incentivize the next edition of John Tillman’s program.

“Last year we talked about it a lot, never forgetting, and we didn’t,” defensive midfielder Eric Kolar said. “Every day we talked about it. We talked about our outcome, and we talked about what we want that year to look like. It sucks because you get to the point and then it’s not the outcome you want. Like coach said, you just wish there’s more you could have done. But the game’s over, and frankly, they played the better game.”

Kolar spoke through tears less than an hour after Maryland never led but remained tethered to Cornell for much of the game. The Terps got within 10-9 in the fourth quarter and had two chances to tie, but goalie Wyatt Knust stuffed an Eric Spanos shot and Maryland had the second of three failed clears in the final period before the Big Red pulled away.

Tillman has led the Terps to the national title game in nine out of the last 14 tournaments. No program has found itself a game away from a championship that regularly since Syracuse did it nine times from 1989-2002 (and 10 times from 1988-2002).

Maryland has endured its share of disappointment, though, going 2-7 in those title games. Sometimes, the Terps just ran into superior teams that handled their business, most notably 2012 Loyola, 2015 Denver and 2024 Notre Dame. Arguably the biggest missed opportunity was the overtime loss to unseeded North Carolina in 2016.

This was a lot closer to the former than the latter, even if the final margin wasn't so lopsided. Cornell’s roster was littered with veterans, several of whom played on the losing side of the 2022 title game against Maryland.

As for Maryland? It didn’t roll into this season with a group of established stars. Plenty had departed from a team whose biggest names were the nation’s best defenseman (Ajax Zappitello) and faceoff man (Luke Wierman).

“You try to be a realist,” Tillman said. “It’s hard to get here every year. It’s hard. I don’t ever take it for granted. You just never know if you’ll make it. But these guys believed. You kind of look back, we lose the player of the year in Ajax. We lose a generational faceoff guy. We lose seven out of our top 11 scorers. So we kind of rebuild things. … They were like, ‘We have different dudes, but we’re going to obviously maximize, be our best, and if we are, hey, who knows?’”

It was apparent early Maryland would be a defense-first team. Sixth-year goalie Logan McNaney was a steady presence, and junior defenseman Will Schaller enjoyed a breakout season. Game after game, the Terps smothered opponents, keeping Richmond, Syracuse, Princeton, Penn State (twice) and Ohio State to single digits during the regular season.

Meanwhile, Spanos (36), Daniel Kelly (35) and Braden Erksa (33) each had career highs in goals. It was the first time Tillman’s team had three 30-goal scorers since 2022.

It kept Maryland in contention for a No. 1 seed until the night before the NCAA tournament bracket was unveiled. A Big Ten title game loss to Ohio State cost them a shot at the top spot, but the Terps had earned a place on any list of championship contenders.

“The goal is always to be here this weekend, and specifically this day,” Schaller said. “That’s what you’re signing up for when you come to Maryland, and that doesn’t mean it's guaranteed. That means you sign up for climbing that mountain and what it takes to get here.”

The Terps hammered Air Force to improve to 12-2 in first-round games under Tillman, then bounced Georgetown to win their 11th quarterfinal in 12 trips since 2011. Then came a 14-8 ambush of sixth-seeded Syracuse in the semifinals, as Maryland punished the Orange for virtually every miscue in the first half and improved to 9-2 in semifinals during Tillman’s tenure.

It was all so methodical and borderline predictable in a way the 2024 run to Memorial Day as a No. 7 seed was not.

“This year, we were definitely more unified and more on the same page than last year, and that was something,” Tillman said. “We were at times last year a disaster. We just were. When we were good we were really good, and when we were bad, we were really bad. We had a couple bad moments [in 2025], for sure, but for the most part we responded, and it didn’t get too far off track.”

Now the task becomes to return to the same stage again, something the Terps will undoubtedly be energized to do. The last time they came off consecutive losses in the NCAA final, they broke through in 2017 to end the program’s 42-year national title drought.

McNaney departs, but Maryland has an able replacement. Brian Ruppel started for much of the 2023 season after McNaney suffered a knee injury and has two years of eligibility remaining.

Kelly, long pole Jack McDonald and defensemen Colin Burlace and Jackson Canfield are other regulars who depart, but there are still some strong incumbent players. Schaller will anchor the defense, and Spanos (who had 13 goals and four assists in the postseason) and midfielder Zach Whittier are set to return for fifth seasons.

Erksa, who already has three 40-point seasons, will be a senior, and Yale grad transfers Leo Johnson and Chris Lyons are also likely to bolster the offense.

And hovering over it all for the Terps’ holdovers will be thoughts of disconsolately trudging off the field after CJ Kirst’s six-goal outburst and hoping to earn a shot at redemption next May when the championship weekend moves to Charlottesville, Va., for a year.

“They rode that wave today,” Schaller said. “We did our best, but at the end of the day, they kind of just played the more complete game, their offense versus our defense. It’s not something we’re going to forget, I promise you that.”