During its early years, Maryland teams competed against the best in lacrosse with games on record against Johns Hopkins, Penn State, Navy, Harvard, Cornell and others.

In its first contest in the association, it snapped Navy's 46-game winning streak and then beat undefeated Johns Hopkins, the Southern Division championship team, 4–2.

[7] In 1926, the USILL was succeeded by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA), which did not have a limitation on the number of member schools.

[8] The dominance of these four schools located in the state of Maryland was due in large part to the high caliber of the sport at the interscholastic level.

[8] The importance of lacrosse was magnified by the lack of any major professional teams in Baltimore until the creation of the Colts in 1947 and the return of the Orioles in 1954.

Representation of the United States was determined by a tournament of intercollegiate and amateur teams that involved Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Rutgers, Army, Navy, and the Mount Washington Lacrosse Club.

To decide the representative for the United States, the American Olympic Lacrosse Committee held an eight-team single-elimination tournament featuring Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, St. John's, Rutgers, Crescent Athletic Club, Mount Washington Lacrosse Club, and an all-star team composed of American Indian players from the Six Nations.

[11] In 1936, Maryland coach Jack Faber guided the undefeated Terps to secure the inaugural Wingate Memorial Trophy, awarded to the USILA champions.

[12] In 1955 and 1956, co-head coaches Faber and Al Heagy guided the Terrapins to two more undefeated seasons and consecutive national championships.

[13] In 1967, Maryland suffered one loss to Navy, that decade's dominant team, but Hopkins in turn defeated the Midshipmen which resulted in a three-way tie for the championship between the trio.

[13] On March 29, 2009, the Maryland–Virginia regular season match resulted in the longest lacrosse game in NCAA history, extending into seven overtime periods.

An unintentional whistle by the officiating staff negated what would have been a game-winning goal by Terrapins attackman Grant Catalino in the first overtime.

Maryland was the recipient of one of these in 1928, alongside Johns Hopkins, Navy, and Rutgers, all of whom suffered just one regular season collegiate defeat.