No. 3 Maryland is 31-0 in this series, but needed a goal from senior midfielder Bryan Cole with 43 seconds left in overtime to escape No. 18 Penn State with an 11-10 decision on April 10. Both the Nittany Lions and Terps lost in the semifinals of last year's Big Ten tournament.
Penn State (8-6 overall and 2-3 in the conference), the No. 4 seed in this year's tournament, must win the championship to advance to its first NCAA postseason since 2013. The defense has struggled, allowing 10.6 goals per game. But the unit is anchored by sophomore defenseman Mike Aronow, an honorable-mention Big Ten choice who leads the team in caused turnovers with 13 and is tied for second in ground balls with 24.
Maryland (12-2, 5-0), the top seed in the tourney, is seeking its first conference tournament championship since 2011 when the school was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. A team that lost sophomore long-stick midfielder Matt Neufeldt (torn anterior cruciate ligament) in October has been buoyed by the play of redshirt senior Greg Danseglio. As the starting long-stick midfielder and one of two wing players on faceoffs, Danseglio has collected 50 ground balls (just four shy of his career high) and caused 12 turnovers (a career best).
Here are a few factors that could play a role in the outcome at Homewood Field in Baltimore on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
1) Production from Matt Rambo. In that regular-season meeting, Maryland persevered despite a quiet showing from Rambo. The junior attackman took six shots, but failed to score a goal, ending a 20-game goal-scoring streak. Rambo did register an assist, but he was held in check primarily by Aronow. While pointing out that Rambo can impact a contest in ways other than scoring, Terps coach John Tillman agreed that the team needs Rambo to capitalize on his chances.
"I think one of Matt's strengths this year has been taking what people give him," Tillman said. "So when they put a lot of attention on him, it opens up opportunities for everybody else, and Matt's a really unselfish guy. But if he gets his opportunities, we're going to need him to can them. They're so potent on offense, we've got to do a good job on the other end of keeping pace."
2) Strategy against Penn State's attack. The starting trio of junior Nick Aponte, freshman Grant Ament and senior T.J. Sanders accounted for five goals and three assists in that overtime loss to Maryland and were especially pivotal in the Nittany Lions building an 8-4 advantage with 9 minutes, 39 seconds left in the second quarter. During that stretch, the attackmen scored four goals and posted two assists, and Tillman said containing them will be an important assignment.
"We've got to do a better job of knowing the personnel and understanding some of the schemes they like to do," he said. "And we've got to play a lot faster. I just thought they played really well. They played hard, they played fast, and that's kind of them. They play at a really fast tempo. So we've really got to be buttoned up because if you aren't ready, they will make you look silly. They run hard, they cut hard, they shoot well, they don't turn the ball over. So we've really got to be organized, we've got to communicate, and we've got to have good on- and off-ball discipline."
3) Possessions from faceoffs. Maryland won 15 of 25 draws against Penn State. Freshman Austin Henningsen got the start and went 4-for-8 with one ground ball before suffering a leg injury and giving way to freshman Will Bonaparte, who won 11 of 17 faceoffs and picked up three ground balls. Bonaparte, freshman Curtis Corley and senior Andrew Walsh combined to go just 5-for-22 in Saturday's 11-8 victory at No. 9 Johns Hopkins – a formula that Tillman would rather avoid repeating.
"Penn State's a really good team in the middle of the field, and they're really good on the wings," he said. "So we have to get better and get better quickly. We certainly feel like we dodged a little bit of a bullet. We were very lucky."
An earlier version of this story had Penn State's overall record incorrect. The Nittany Lions are 8-6 overall.