The No. 1 Maryland Terrapins used two five-goal second-half spurts to knock off the No. 5 Virginia women’s lacrosse team, 18-6, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game played Friday night at Klöckner Stadium. With the win, the Terrapins remain undefeated this season at 5-0 and 2-0 in ACC play, while the Cavaliers fall to 2-2 and 0-1 in conference action.
“Obviously, Maryland is a great team,” head coach Julie Myers said. “They worked really hard to create some opportunities. You just can’t give them the ball that many times.”
Despite the score, the game was evenly matched, as both teams scooped up 15 ground balls. Maryland held a slight lead in draw controls (15-11) and committed four less turnovers, but the Cavaliers earned nine saves compared to the Terrapins seven.
Offensively, Virginia led by redshirt junior Ainsley Baker and junior Julie Gardner, who each tallied two goals in the contest. Juniors Charlie Finnigan and Josie Owen each tacked on one goal, while Owen also dished out an assist.
For Maryland, Laura Merrifield notched a game-high five goals, while Karri Ellen Johnson contributed four. Katie Schwarzmann and Sarah Mollison added three and two, respectively, while Beth Glaros rounded out the scoring with one goal.
Defensively for the Cavaliers, junior Bailey Fogarty caused three turnovers and scooped up two ground balls, while sophomore goalkeeper Kim Kolarik stopped nine shots and had two ground balls.
Maryland got out to a hot start in the game, firing four goals into the net before Virginia was able to get on the board at the 11:12 mark – when Baker converted a free position shot. Owen then found Finnigan streaking across the goal, who tallied a second-straight score for Virginia to cut its deficit to two, 4-2, with 9:32 left to play in the opening half.
The next seven minutes were scoreless before Baker notched her second goal of the game and pulled Virginia within one, 4-3, at 2:40. The Terrapins answered though, scoring their first goal since the 15:29 mark at 2:07, giving them a 5-3 advantage heading into halftime.
Maryland carried its momentum into the second half, scoring the first three goals of the stanza to take an 8-3 lead with 25:20 to play. Gardner squeaked an unassisted shot into the back of the net at 18:17, but Maryland responded with five-straight goals to take a 13-4 lead just three minutes later.
Gardner notched her second score at 13:45, before another five-goal run by the Terrapins pushed Maryland ahead 18-5 with 4:13 to play. Owen brought the final score to 18-6 by converting a free position shot at 2:03.
“We’ll get to play them again in the ACC Tournament or in the post season,” Myers said. “But the greatest thing is that we get to play again on Sunday.”
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Chris Graham
