By Jack Bowman
Maryland Women’s Lacrosse coasted to a dominant victory in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament Friday, defeating the Drexel Dragons, 11-6.

Maryland struck first with a goal in the first two minutes of the first period as senior Hannah
Leubecker scored a free position goal for her 35th goal of the season.

At the end of the first period, Maryland led 6-2 after another goal from Leubecker, a strike from
senior Libby May (her 59th of the season), and an overall balanced attack.

From there, it became a defensive grind as Maryland nearly completely shut Drexel out of the
scoring column throughout the second and third periods.

“I think we really stepped up and kind of executed our game plan,” senior goalie Emily Sterling
said.

Sterling had an excellent game herself outside of the team defense, as she finished with 9 saves
to 6 goals allowed.

It wasn’t just Drexel that struggled to score in the third period, as Maryland also hit a lengthy
drought.

Surprisingly, Maryland’s eventual spark came from graduate defender Abby Bosco, as she took
it coast-to-coast for her first goal of the season with 4:55 remaining in the third period.

“Not much of anything is really going through my head when I’m that close to the goal,” Bosco
said with a laugh after the game. “If they don’t slide, go to goal.”

Drexel strung together a couple of goals in quick succession in the fourth period to make it 10-6,
but it was ultimately too little too late. The game was sealed up when junior Chrissy Thomas
knocked in a goal with 4:11 remaining to build the lead back up to 5.

Maryland will move on to face #7 James Madison University in the second round of the
tournament in a rematch of a close early-March loss.

The game will take place on JMU’s home turf in Harrisonburg, Va. on Sunday at 1 p.m.