The Terps look to advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
No. 2-seed Maryland women’s lacrosse survived a scare in its 17-11 victory over No. 7-seed Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. The Terps led by just one goal late in the third quarter and had allowed a scrappy Rutgers squad to hang around.
But six fourth-quarter scores fueled Maryland to a convincing win on Wednesday. The Terps put forth their best offensive performance in six contests, producing a near season-high 17 goals against one of the best goaltenders in the nation.
Maryland won’t have much time to celebrate the result, though, as it prepares to face No. 3-seed Michigan on Friday. The game will start at 6:30 p.m. and air on Big Ten Network.
What happened last time
The Terps entered their meeting with Michigan on March 16 in red-hot form, as winners of their last five contests. And the top-15 battle certainly lived up to the hype, with Maryland squeaking by, 14-12, in a back-and-forth affair.
Despite 15 combined goals in the opening half, neither team separated themselves.
A first-quarter hat trick from Kate Sites gave the Terps a 5-4 lead at the end of the period. But attacker Ava Class immediately scored two goals coming out of the break to hand the Wolverines the lead.
After Chrissy Thomas pushed Maryland ahead 8-7 late in the second quarter, the Terps came out of halftime with another gear, scoring three of the first four tallies. Kori Edmondson pushed Maryland ahead by three goals.
But Michigan wouldn’t go away, cutting the deficit to one off two scores from Class. Jordyn Lipkin’s second goal of the game sealed the victory, though, restoring the Terps’ three-goal advantage.
The Wolverines three-headed monster of Class, Jill Smith and Kaylee Dyer accounted for 11 of the team’s 12 scores. Their efforts were outdone by a balanced attack, though, as seven Terps found the back of the net. Sites led the way with four-goal performance.
Maryland’s draw control unit dominated the circle once again, corralling 17 of the 27 faceoffs. Shelby Sullivan finished with a game-high six draw controls.
JJ Suriano generated one of her worst performances of the season, managing seven saves and a 36.8% save percentage. The Terps’ attack found success against Michigan goalie Erin O’Grady — one of the top netminders in the nation — who secured 10 saves.
What’s happened since
Maryland was purely outmatched in its next game, dropping to then-No. 3 Northwestern, 16-4, on the road. Following the Terps’ one-goal defeat to then-No. 15 Penn, they rattled off six wins in seven contests, including Wednesday’s Big Ten Tournament game.
After hitting a lull earlier this season, Maryland’s offense has come to life down the stretch. The Terps erupted for 13 goals against then-No. 8 Johns Hopkins. Maryland nearly matched that total in the second half of Wednesday’s game, producing 10 scores.
The Wolverines have fallen in just two games since their meeting with Maryland, losing to Penn State and Northwestern. Along the way, Michigan has secured ranked wins over then-No. 21 USC, then-No. 21 Ohio State and then-No. 5 Johns Hopkins.
With the Wolverines’ Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals matchup against No. 6-seed USC tied at five, the Wolverines seized control. Michigan took an 11-6 lead into halftime, one that it only added on to.
Michigan’s 20-9 victory was fueled by one of the best performances of the season by any player in the country. Smith posted eight goals and two assists on just 10 shots. The senior ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 52 goals this season.
Three things to watch
1. How does Suriano fare in goal? The sophomore netminder looked like the big stage was too much for her in Wednesday’s game, producing just six saves on the 17 shots on frame. Suriano will need a bounce-back outing if the Terps hope to continue its Big Ten Tournament run to the championship game.
2. One-way traffic. With its victory earlier this season, Maryland has now won all 12 meetings against the Wolverines. These matchups have only gotten closer in recent years, though, with the Terps producing consecutive two-goal victories.
3. Freshmen contributions. Devin Livingston, Emma Abbazia and Shelby Sullivan combined for five scores against Rutgers. Maryland will need steady production from its highly-touted freshman recruits to keep up with the Wolverines’ high-powered attack.