By Aaron Megar

The Terps continued to prove their dominance on Saturday, beating on the Villanova Wildcats on their own turf in Villanova, Pennsylvania. With a hat-trick from sophomore Matt Rambo and eight more goals from seven of his teammates, the Terrapins came out on top with an 11-2 win.

Led by Rambo’s 13, Maryland put a total of 54 shots on net, outshooting their opponent by an indicative 34 shots. The Terps also managed to dominate face-offs, winning 14 of the 17 taken throughout the game thanks to senior midfielder Chris Raffa.

The team came out energized and ready to win, scoring within three minutes of the opening whistle and bringing an eight-goal lead into the locker-room at halftime. While Rambo led the team’s scoring effort, freshman midfielder Connor Kelly was the Terps’ assist leader, getting himself involved in three goals, two of which were put in by Rambo. Among the team’s other scorers was senior Jay Carlson, who has no scored in 10 straight games, and freshman Christian Zawadzki, who scored the first goal of his career with the Terps.

Villanova, ranked at No. 15 going into Saturday, were only kept alive by goals from midfielders Eric Gartner and Sean Cerrone, though the two goals were not nearly enough to keep up with the red-hot Terrapins. Maryland has never in its history lost to the Wildcats on the lacrosse field, now reaching a 9-0 all-time record.

With Saturday’s win, the Terps improved to 5-1 on the season and are running off the momentum of four straight victories, hoping to knock off the No. 2 ranked UNC Tar Heels next Saturday. The Terps will be challenging their former ACC-enemies at the Pacific Coast Shootout in Santa Anna, California.