Maryland’s top-seeded women’s lacrosse team has a 4-0 record against its quarterfinal opponent, No. 8 Stony Brook. But these Terps have never played the Seawolves, who set their sights on winning the national championship with a continuous rise over the past several years.

Well-known for their defense when the Terps beat them four times between 2011 and 2013, including in the second round of the 2013 NCAA tournament, JoeSpallina’s team has developed into a high-scoring opponent, as well. The Seawolves rank first in Division I in scoring defense and third in scoring offense.

Junior Kylie Ohlmiller broke former Terp and current Loyola Maryland coach Jen Adams’ Division I single-season points record (148) and now has 157. She and her sister, Taryn, a freshman with 98 points, account for 46 percent of the team’s points.

While Maryland coach Cathy Reese’s team hasn’t seen an offense so prolific in just a couple of players — although the Seawolves do have other threats — she said it’s hard to tell what might happen when they take the field against the Terps defense.

“Every team’s different. It’s so hard to compare,” Reese said.

“It’s a team that we haven’t faced in years. We don’t have a lot of common opponents. We’re in different conferences. They’ve had alot of success not only on the defensive side, but on the offensive side, too — players with big numbers for both of them. It’s an exciting game coming up, especially in the NCAA quarterfinals for us to be challenged and tested this way.”

The Terps have seen a lot more backer zone defenses like Stony Brook’s this year, as many teams have converted to it to try to counter quick offenses necessitated by the 90-second shot clock.

Undefeated Maryland’s offense, leading Division I with 17.05 goals per game against a schedule that included 10 ranked teams, takes on a Seawolves defense allowing just 7.0 goals per game while going 5-1 against ranked teams. In games against common opponents, the Big Ten champion Terps won by an average of 9.3 goals while America East champion Stony Brook, with a loss to Florida, comes out ahead by 5.8.

Happy to be the underdog: One of only two unseeded teams left in the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament quarterfinals, Towson is perhaps the longest shot to advance to the final four. The lack of confidence in the Tigers might be insulting, but it is used as fuel for the players.

“I think that our program over the course of the four years that I’ve been here has really embraced the role of a confident underdog,” senior goalkeeper Matt Hoy said Tuesday afternoon.

“Everyone in the locker room has confidence in our ability and our ability to win games. But we also understand that to the outside world, we are considered underdogs. So we really relish the fact that every time we get on the field, we can band together as brothers and kind of prove ourselves time and time again.”

That attitude helped Towson upset No. 2 seed and 2015 national champion Denver in the first round of last year’s tournament before falling to No. 7 seed Loyola Maryland in the quarterfinals.

It’s the same demeanor that propelled the Tigers (11-4) to upend No. 7 seed Penn State, 12-8, in the first round Saturday.

“We had confidence going into that game,” said senior long-stick midfielder Tyler Mayes, a Bel Air resident and Calvert Hall graduate. “We have the utmost trust in everybody on our team, and inside our locker room is really all we’re worried about.

We know that every game is going to be a tough game, and Penn State is a very good team. But we had confidence in ourselves that we would be able to move onto the next round.”

To advance to its first NCAA tournament semifinal since 2001, Towson will have to solve No. 2 seed Syracuse, which edged Yale, 11-10, on Sunday night to improve to 9-2 in one-goal games. The Orange (13-2) have won the past nine meetings with the Tigers, but the sides have not played since 2000.

Coach Shawn Nadelen said that history won’t dissuade Towson.

“They believe in themselves, and they believe in what they can accomplish as a team,” he said. “They know that we have another opportunity this week to prepare for and play another tough opponent in the quarterfinals. If we earn the victory, then we move onto the final four.

“But I think the biggest thing for these guys is the preparation, especially through a tough week. We’ve got finals going on this week. So making sure we’re locked in mentally both academically as well as the lacrosse side will be a bit of a challenge for the guys this week, but I think these guys are really focused on being able to attack the week.”

Keeping up with the Collinses: As the Navy women’s lacrosse team advances to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time, twins Jenna and Julia Collins have garnered a handful of accolades.

The junior River Hill graduates are Navy’s scoring leaders — Jenna for the season and Julia for the NCAA tournament.

Jenna, the Patriot League Midfielder of the Year with 68 goals and 38 assists, earned Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association All-South Region second-team honors for the second time in her career. She was also named first-team All-Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference for the second time.

Julia, who led the Midshipmen with 10 points and 13 draw controls in the NCAA tournament wins over seventh-seeded Penn and Massachusetts, was named Epoch/US Lacrosse Player of the Week for leading Navy to the quarterfinals for the first time. katherine.dunn@baltsun.com edward.lee@baltsun.com twitter.com/kdunnsun twitter.com/EdwardLeeSun