Through the first ten minutes of the game, Virginia answered each Maryland goal with an equalizer, knotting the game 3-3. After Maryland rattled off three straight goals to take a 6-3 lead with 14:49 left in the first half, Ashlee Warner took a feed from Caroline McTiernan to narrow the gap to 6-4 with 10:12 left in the half.
Virginia added a goal from Casey Bocklet and a second score from Warner to trail 8-6 at the break.
In the second half, Maryland scored 32 seconds into the period, but again Virginia answered with Warner’s third goal of the game with 27:28 remaining. Maryland scored four straight to extend its advantage to 13-7. Bocklet and Morgan Stephens scored back-to-back goals a minute apart to make it a 15-10game, but the Terps’ potent offense added three more scores to push the lead to 18-10 with eight minutes left in the game.
“Obviously Maryland is a very good team,” said head coach Julie Myers. “I thought we challenged them and made them work hard for what they got, but clearly you can’t give Maryland, or a team that is that good at shooting, that many opportunities. I thought they had great open looks at the cage, but not because we weren’t working hard at trying to deny them, but because they were that good. They were hitting good lanes.”
Maryland scored its 18 goals on just 23 shots. Virginia scored 10 goals on 20 shots.
Bocklet added four goals to give her a team-best 11 goals this season. Warner scored three goals with an assist. Caroline McTiernan and Courtney Swan each scored a goal and had an assist.
Kim Koalrik had three saves. Liz Colgan played the final 1:27 in goal, but did not face a shot.
Maryland won 18 draw controls to Virginia’s 12. Stephens led the Cavaliers with four. Daniela Eppler won two draw controls and had three ground balls.
With the victory, Maryland improves to 4-0 (2-0 ACC). Virginia falls to 2-2 (0-1 ACC).
Virginia will face another top-10 ranked team on Sunday, March 3 when it hosts No. 10 Penn State at 1 p.m. at Klockner Stadium.
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Chris Graham
