Less than a minute after taking a 2-0 lead, forward/midfielder Anna Castaldo took a shot that Indiana goalie Shannon McNally blocked with her glove, but midfielder Kyler Greenwalt was at the left side of the goal waiting for the rebound and tipped it in to build the Terps lead.
No. 10 Maryland field hockey (4-3, B1G) trounced Indiana (0-8, B1G) 5-0.
“Our energy, our dominance you could tell that the opportunity from 17 months ago to be back on this field and to play the brand Maryland plays,” head coach Missy Meharg said. “I’m very proud of the women. To get that string of goals was contagious and felt really good.”
The Terps scored three of their five goals in less than five minutes, impressing in their home debut showing the return of Maryland brand field hockey in College Park.
“I thought our distribution into the circle [worked well],” Meharg said. “We had a lot of balls going into the circle from 5, 10, 15 meters, but also from 40 and 50 [meters] and I think that is very good.”
Defender Maura Verleg opened the scoring up with a goal off a penalty corner for her first career goal as Terp and also had an assist.
“I think it’s great,” Verleg said. “We have worked so hard these past few weeks especially on penalty corners and they got better every week. So it’s good to see that it’s paying off now.”
The Terps converted two of their eight penalty corners into goals which shows their improvement from last week’s games against Penn State.
Forward Bibi Donraadt scored the second goal for the Terps off the rebound on a penalty corner she put into play, marking her fourth goal of the season. Donraadt also picked up her second assist on the year.
Defender Riley Donnelly added to the Terps’ lead with a goal off a penalty stroke right before halftime extending the lead to 4-0 for her third goal of the season.
Castaldo had a strong performance with four shots including two on goal and scored her first collegiate goal in the fourth quarter.
The Terps offense was on fire outshooting the Hoosiers 13-7 and holding the Hoosiers to two penalty corners.
Both goalies, starter Noelle Frost and back up Christina Calandra saw action tonight. Frost had three saves including a nice save off her foot that directed the ball out of bounce. Calandra made her collegiate debut after redshirting last season in the fourth quarter and faced a few shots.
The Terps will face off against the Hoosiers again on Sunday at 11 a.m.
