On June 11, the Division I men’s lacrosse transfer portal closed for all underclassmen. In the time between its national championship game loss and that day, Maryland head coach John Tillman made multiple consequential decisions for the upcoming season. Here’s who’s coming to College Park and who’s leaving.
New additions
To this point, Maryland has gained seven new faces heading into next season.
The first to announce his commitment to the Terps was Stony Brook midfielder Noah Armitage. Armitage had a breakout season in 2023, totaling 26 goals and 14 assists, followed by 20 goals last year.
The next to commit was Armitage’s longtime conference rival Bryce Ford, who left Fairfield for the Terps, as reported by Prep Lacrosse’s Ty Xanders. Ford finished with 39 goals in his senior year en route to his second straight second-team All-CAA nod. He will help reinforce Maryland’s attack, which will be without Daniel Maltz and Eric Malever.
Then, Tillman looked to Division III to bolster his defensive midfield. The Terps added Zack Goorno from Bowdoin College in Maine, Xanders reported. Goorno was twice named United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division III Short Stick Defensive Midfielder of the Year and has averaged an impressive 69 ground balls per season over the last two years.
Goorno won’t be the only Terp making the jump from Division III next year. Maryland is also adding midfielder Jack Dowd from Division III powerhouse Salisbury. Dowd will join the team as a graduate student after scoring 93 goals in his last two seasons at Salisbury.
Tillman also strengthened his close defense, which is losing its anchor Ajax Zappitello to the Primier Lacrosse League (PLL). Maryland added Navy’s AJ Hernandez, Inside Lacrosse’s Terry Foy reported. Hernandez took a year off this past season, but caused 12 turnovers as a freshman in 2023. He is an alum of local powerhouse Boys’ Latin School of Maryland.
To round out their additions, Tillman grabbed another pair of attackmen: Matthew Keegan of Binghamton and Luca Ward of Holy Cross. Keegan joins Maryland as a senior after a 34-goal junior year, while Ward comes off an 11-goal, five-assist freshman season.
Of the seven new players Tillman recruited, five are offensive — three attackmen and two offensive midfielders — showing a clear priority to improve an offense that was highly inconsistent last year.
The incoming transfers will join 12 freshmen, including five-star attackmen Spencer Ford from Boys’ Latin and Johnny Gardiner from Gonzaga College High School.
Departures
The Terps are bringing in a lot more talent than they’re losing this transfer cycle. So far, only two players announced their intention to leave the program.
Three days after Maryland lost in the national championship game, Malever declared his departure. Malever was a key player on Maryland’s 2022 national championship team, recording 48 points as a starting attacker.
Many projected him to be a team captain heading into 2023, but a torn ACL in the preseason sidelined him for the entire year.
Malever returned to the starting lineup in 2024, but struggled to regain his form while continuing to rehab his injury. Tillman moved him to the offensive midfield, and he finished the year with 31 points.
A little more than a week after entering the transfer portal, Xanders reported that Malever is joining Maryland’s historic rival Duke next year.
Three days after Malever’s new home was announced, Xanders revealed that midfielder Owen Murphy would also be leaving Maryland. Murphy played three seasons at Maryland after his freshman year at Johns Hopkins, and saw his role decrease each year.
Murphy scored 34 goals in 2022, 18 in 2023, then 12 this past season. He struggled with efficiency, shooting just 17%. His next destination has yet to be announced.
Other news
The transfer portal hasn’t been the only source of offseason news for the Terps. Logan Wisnauskas, Maryland’s all-time points leader and winner of the 2022 Tewaaraton Award, will be taking over as Brown’s offensive coordinator.
Wisnauskas, who plays for the Denver Outlaws, has played in the PLL All-Star Game in each of his first two years as a professional. He will join former High Point head coach Jon Torpey’s staff in his first year at Brown.
Zappitello has also secured a coaching position as an assistant at Dartmouth. Zappitello is currently in his rookie year with the Maryland Whipsnakes, where he has six ground balls and four caused turnovers through three games.
Zappitello’s younger brother, Hopper, is also on the Big Green.
“He will be an amazing coach because he will care about those kids,” Tillman said of Zappitello after the national championship game loss. “He will treat them the right way. He’ll be tough on them, but man, those kids will get better, and they’ll be lucky to be around him.”
