With six seconds remaining in the first overtime period, No. 2-seed Maryland women’s lacrosse had its eyes set on a second overtime. 

However, No. 1-seed Northwestern had other plans. Annabel Child had the ball on the goal line extended. She ran around the eight-meter and with two seconds left, she whipped the ball into the goal right past JJ Suriano.

The Wildcats shocked the Terps, 8-7, in the Big Ten Tournament championship game after a big comeback. 

It was deja vu. In last season’s Big Ten Tournament, Northwestern found the game-winner with seconds remaining in regulation. But although this year’s clash went to overtime, the result remained the same.

That said, as the Terps trailed by four early in the fourth, they came all the way back. 

The fourth quarter for the Terps was one of Maryland’s best fourth quarters this season. Maryland displayed its depth in the fourth quarter, with all four goals being from different players.   

It began with Kori Edmondson, who responded to Northwestern’s seventh goal after slipping past the defense in the sixth minute of the fourth quarter. Maisy Clevenger added her second goal of the game, assisted by Shanahan. Lauren LaPointe utilized a player-up opportunity for the first time in the matchup and put Maryland one goal away from Northwestern.

Finally, it came down to Keeley Block and Kayla Gilmore to tie things up, getting a second deja vu moment of the game-winning goal from Johns Hopkins on Saturday, leaving the Maryland team pumped up for the overtime matchup.

Maryland went into overtime for the second time in this Big Ten Tournament, and it was the first overtime for a Big Ten Championship in the history of the tournament.

With two minutes to go in overtime, it looked like Northwestern was already the winner with a goal from Taylor Lapointe, but a crease violation gave Maryland a chance.

Maryland sent it down the field, but Jenika Cuocco blocked both shot attempts and earned her team the winning opportunity.

Cuocco tied her career-high with 18 saves after those two key stops. She ended the game with a 72% save percentage.  

Northwestern’s caused turnover rate was key to earning themselves offensive opportunities, along with draw controls from Madison Taylor. The Wildcats pressured Maryland down the field and forced 10 turnovers compared to the Terps’ six.

Taylor was key to Northwestern overall despite not earning the most goals on the team; she earned four draw controls, a goal, an assist, and two caused turnovers, a very well-rounded performance.

This game did not start as strongly as the Terps had hoped for. Going into the second half, they didn’t have any sort of a lead.

In the fourth quarter, Madison Taylor made an assist with a solid feed to Lucy Munro, who scored and got the Wildcats a four-goal lead.

The Terps had some wide and high shots that just were not going to make it in; they needed to make more calculated shots similar to the one by Edmondson at the beginning of the game. In the third minute of the third quarter, Northwestern broke the scoring drought and furthered its gap on the Terps.

The fourth-quarter effort showed Maryland’s growth over the season, and the team will now have time to work on inconsistencies before the NCAA Tournament begins