NCAA Lacrosse Championship 2022: Maryland Beats Cornell to Complete Perfect Season

The No. 1 Maryland Terrapins defeated the No. 7 Cornell Big Red 9-7 in the 2022 NCAA men's lacrosse championship on Monday at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut, for their first title since 2017 and fourth in school history. 

The win pushed Maryland's record to 18-0 and they became the 13th team in NCAA men's lacrosse history to complete a perfect season. 

The Terrapins got out to an impressive start despite giving up the first goal of the game on a shot from Cornell's CJ Kirst with 7:28 left in the first period. Maryland bounced back when Eric Malever came around from behind the net to tie the game 1-1 with 5:47 left in the first.

Following Malever's goal, Maryland went on to score four consecutive goals, inflating their lead to 5-1 with 13 minutes remaining in the second period. Anthony DeMaio scored three of those goals before finding Owen Prybylski in transition for the team's fifth tally. 

Kirst responded with his second goal of the game with 11:49 remaining in the second period to cut Maryland's lead to 5-2, but the Terrapins added two more goals from DeMaio and Logan Wisnauskas to take a 7-2 lead into halftime. 

While Maryland started the second half with two quick goals from Wisnauskas and Jonathan Donville, the Terrapins' momentum faded and they allowed the Big Red to get back into the game when Aiden Blake scored with 4:34 remaining in the third period to make it 9-3.

Cornell dominated the fourth period, outscoring Maryland 4-0 on goals from Michael Long, Hugh Kelleher, Spencer Wirtheim and John Piatelli, but the Big Red's comeback fell short as they couldn't overcome the big first half from the Terps. 

Maryland goaltender Logan McNaney essentially won the game for his team as he remained solid through Cornell's fourth-period onslaught. He made 17 saves on 40 shots and made a number of key saves in the final minutes of Monday's game. 

It was the perfect end to a perfect season for the Terrapins, who dominated each of their opponents en route to the championship game, defeating Vermont, Virginia and Princeton in the NCAA tournament before holding off Cornell for the title.