As part of my continuing series this week covering the major conference tournaments, let’s turn our attention to the 2025 B1G Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. Of course, the tournament is already underway, with Penn State and Rutgers winning last weekend to set up the four-team finale this weekend.
Part 1: ACC Tournament Preview
One thing we already know is that we will have a new champion. Back to back Big Ten Tournament champions Michigan lost to Rutgers last week. They will suffer the unusual punishment of having to watch the tournament play out on their own turf in Ann Arbor.
Ohio State plays Rutgers on Thursday at noon, as the game was moved up due to inclement weather. Penn State will play against Maryland right after that one.
Who’s In?
If you love defensive lacrosse, this is the tournament for you. All four teams this weekend find themselves in the top ten nationally in scoring defence and none find themselves particularly close to the top ten in offence. The chinstraps better be tight this weekend.
Below is a table showing the national ranks of the four teams. As you can see, the strengths and weaknesses of the group are remarkably similar.
| Team | RPI | Scoring Offence | Scoring Defence | Faceoff Percentage | Save Percentage |
| Ohio State | 8 | 16 | 9 | 38 | 2 |
| Rutgers | 19 | 60 | 8 | 12 | 12 |
| Maryland | 1 | 43 | 2 | 34 | 4 |
| Penn State | 4 | 17 | 10 | 13 | 43 |
To that note, previewing this tournament is very difficult. There are very few stylistic differences between the four participants. And unlike past years, there is a lack of star power. Just three players from the entire conference are in the top 100 nationally in points per game. Only one, Penn State’s Matt Traynor, is in the top 50.
Some of the statistics are jarring. Maryland’s leading scorer is Eric Spanos, who is number 102 in points per contest. Rutgers leading scorer Colin Kurdyla is ranked 131.
Yet make no mistake about it, these are four of the best teams in the country. They have depth, coaching, defence, toughness and some of the best goaltending in America. More on that later.
Matchup History
Ohio State took down Rutgers 13-11 on March 29. Caleb Fyock made 19 saves, compared to just 8 for Cardin Stoller. Jack McKenna had 2 goals and 3 assists for the Buckeyes, while Alex Marinier had a hat-trick.
Kurdyla had 2 goals and 2 assists for Rutgers, with Shane Murphy adding 2 more. LSM Ryan Splaine had 2 goals of his own, helping chip in offensively. It was the third straight victory for the Bucks over the Scarlet Knights.
Meanwhile, Maryland pounded Penn State at Maryland Stadium. The game was not as close as the final score of 13-8 suggested in one of the better efforts of the year for the Terps. Maryland shot 50% on the day and dominated on the ground, overcoming an 8-draw faceoff differential to come out on top of the ground balls 27-22.
Spanos and Braden Erksa each had a hat-trick for Maryland, while Traynor led the Nittany Lions with 3 points.
Keys to the Weekend
Ohio State – Midfielders Have to Win
One of the themes of the weekend will be midfield play, and none is more important than for the Buckeyes. With Bobby Van Buren likely to win matchups against other attackmen, and other defenders in the tournament likely to succeed against Ohio State’s attack, the game figures to go through the midfield.
They have one of the deepest midfield groups in the nation, with eight players at 10 or more goals and nine players with more than 10 points. McKenna is the best of the bunch but has received plenty of attention recently after a strong stretch.
With that being said, they lack star power and have been thriving off a score-by-committee approach. Rutgers is likely a step below the rest of the three ROPE units this weekend and Ohio State needs their middies to be aggressive and hit shots. OSU is at their best when their middies are scoring unassisted goals, opening up the rest of the offence.
Defensively, the SSDM unit for Ohio State has been stout all year long. But they struggled against Maryland, giving up 7 goals to the Terps first midfield. Rutgers likes to spread the defence out with open sets. These sets only work if you beat the defender by a lot. If the Buckeye D-mids can win on the perimeter, Rutgers will be in a heap of trouble.
Maryland – Play With the Lead
Maryland has used a very unusual formula this year, relying on long possessions and elite shooting percentages. The Terps are 7th in shooting percentage despite being in the mid-30’s in scoring offence. The outcome here is that Maryland rarely takes bad shots… they work the ball down until they get a good shot, and if not they dump it in the corner.
But this strategy is tough when you have to make a comeback. Rutgers beat Maryland for the first time in decades and did so by getting out to a 5-1 lead in the game. Michigan’s victory over the Terps was more back and forth, but Michigan led 5-3 early on. Ohio State trailed 9-3 to Maryland at half, and Penn State trailed 7-2.
When the Terps are out front and controlling the tempo, they are a tough out. Starting well is a major key.
Penn State – Defensive Transition and Finding Leverage
Penn State gave up way too many transition goals to the Terps in meeting one. They will need to be much sharper in this area of the game against a Terps Rope that is one of the most offensively skilled in the country. Both LSM’s are confident with the ball and the SSDM’s all want to push. Defensive transition isn’t sexy and it might not win you games, but it can lose you games quickly.
Luckily, it is mostly effort related.
The harder issue for PSU is winning matchups somewhere on offence. Will Schaller was incredible in the first matchup and consistently winning matchups down low will be a headache. I don’t expect Penn State to waste much time going after the poles.
Late in the first matchup with Maryland, they found some success on picks in the high alleys. On this first clip, Hunter Aquino comes off a pick to the middle and scores with a nice outside shot. Maryland was unprepared to switch and the pick got the separation needed to score.
On this second one, the Nittany Lions set the pick to the alley, but the key here is the picker, none other than B1G offensive player of the year Matt Traynor. A quick throwback gets their best player with his hands free and they score again.
Then the last clip is another nice take by the Nittany Lions, again using a pick to get to the middle of the field. A nice feed inside gets them a great look.
You can bet PSU will test these scenarios early, as they were basically the only way they created offence in the first matchup. But you can also bet that Maryland will have a plan, as the best scouting staff in the nation gets ready for another playoff run.
Rutgers – Shooting
Let’s keep things simple for the Scarlet Knights. In their wins this season, they shot 30.45%. In their losses, they shot 16.12%. They have the 57th best shooting percentage in the country.
Against Michigan in the quarterfinals, they got some easy looks in transition and scored several low-angle goals en-route to an efficient shooting day. They will likely struggle to create high-quality looks in volume against these defences, so they will need to shoot it well to have a chance.
X Factors
Caleb Fyock, Logan McNaney, Cardin Stoller and Jack Fracyon.
I try to avoid too much hyperbole, but this has to be one of the most talented groups of goaltenders in a conference tournament ever. McNaney, Fyock, and Stoller are all virtual locks for All-American honours this season. The odd-man out Fracyon has a better resume than all of them, being named the USILA second-team All-American last year and the Big Ten Specialist of the Year that year as well.
Fyock was the specialist of the year this year, and enters with the second best save percentage in the nation. At 6’2, 297 lbs, he is one of the biggest goaltenders in the country, and has been remarkably consistent this year. He did not have a single game below 50% save percentage and had games of 17 and 19 saves against Penn State and Rutgers respectively. Maryland had the best day of any team all season, with Fyock saving 50% of the shots that day.
McNaney is the exact opposite body-type, but is one of the most experienced goaltenders in NCAA history. Listed extremely generously at 5’10 and 185 lbs, he has played in three national championship games and was the 2022 NCAA Tournament most outstanding player. He’s having the best season of his career at better than 60% on the year, highlighted by a 16 save performance against Notre Dame. His only sub 50% games of the year came in the two Maryland losses, a sign of his importance to their winning.
Stoller is an athletic type who will draw obvious comparisons to Collin Kirst. He made 14 saves against Maryland but is coming off back-to-back performances of 50% or lower against Penn State and Michigan. He will need to be near otherworldly for Rutgers to have a chance this weekend. He is capable of doing just that.
These players are X factors for a specific reason. They cannot get outplayed significantly by their counterparts. In games that promise to be defensive showdowns, teams will have almost no chance if their goalie isn’t sharp.
Iron sharpens iron though. I expect these four to bring their best this weekend.
This weekend will be a rock-fight. The 2025 B1G Men’s Lacrosse Tournament kicks off Thursday afternoon.