No. 1 Maryland women’s lacrosse (12-0, 4-0 Big Ten) has made its way from No. 7 at the beginning of the season all the way to the top of the rankings.
On Saturday at 12 p.m., the Terps will play Rutgers (8-4, 2-1 Big Ten) in College Park, MD, for their Senior Day.
Rutgers has been on a three-game winning streak since its last loss, which came from its game against No. 10 Johns Hopkins.
In the last matchup between the Terps and Scarlet Knights, Maryland came away with a win, 17-11.
Across these two teams’ entire history, Rutgers has won only twice, the most recent of those wins coming in 2024. In their most recent game, they defeated San Diego State 14-8.
Freshman attacker Kate Theofield, scoring four goals, was key. Theofield already ranks third on the team in total points scored/
Sophomore Caroline Ling leads the team with 63 points. Ling ranks fourth in the Big Ten, right behind Maryland’s Lauren LaPointe.
Lily Dixon is second on the team in points and currently leads the conference with 38 assists this season. The senior has only nine goals, but her assist count has earned her second place in team points.
Rutgers has had several goalies play significant minutes. Stella Quilty and Simone Koryszewski have played a similar amount of time across the season. Quilty has an average save percentage of 48.8%, and Koryszewski has 42.6%. Each has more than 40 saves on their record.
Quilty played the full game in the win against SDSU. In that game, she boasted a save percentage of 61.9%.
The Terps have been led by an older group, with the top six point earners on the team being upperclassmen, and half of them are graduate students.
LaPointe has been named both the IWLCA and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, and she earned Midseason All-American honors from Inside Lacrosse. She has scored a career-high 7 goals and 10 points in a single game in the Terps’ win against Johns Hopkins.
In the most recent matchup between Maryland and Penn State, LaPointe scored the most goals, tallying four goals in the game.
Edmondson has been demonstrating her talents progressively, having many of her best games come in recent weeks.
Shanahan was placed on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List in the first round of additions early in the season, and she has since earned it, scoring 27 goals so far.
On the defensive end, JJ Suriano has proved to be an asset, with a save percentage of .530 and an average of 10.25 saves per game.
The Terps have a range of talent on their team, from solid defenders to an array of scorers, with 14 players scoring across 12 games, 5 of whom have 25 or more points.
These two teams have a significant difference in collegiate experience. Maryland’s lineup consists mainly of upperclassmen; Rutgers has a majority of underclassmen getting minutes.
