It took 80 minutes and six rounds in the shootout for No. 3 seed Maryland field hockey (19-3)  to clinch their 21st Final Four appearance, outlasting No. 8 Syracuse (16-5), 3-2 in a thriller. 

Sophomore goalie Paige Kieft came in to defend the shootout and struggled as Syracuse scored on their first two shots putting Maryland in a 2-0 hole after Round 2. 

Maryland clawed back in the later rounds to tie the shootout at 2-2 in Round 4. Both forward Hope Rose and midfielder Bibi Donraadt made their shots, and Kieft made two big stops. 

“I think the attacking aspect was just going in as confident as you can and just knowing that the entire team has your back no matter what happens,” Rose said. 

Both teams missed their shots in Round 5, sending it to Round 6, with Maryland shooting first. Rose weaved around Orange goalie Brooke Borzymowski finding space, and sending her shot into the net, giving Maryland the lead.

Syracuse had one final chance to keep the shootout going with forward Charlotte de Vries up, but Kieft defended the shot ending the game.

“I just think my mind went completely clear,” Kieft said. “I just took every single shot every single foot one step at a time, and just didn’t look at the next bar until I looked at the one ahead of me.”

The rest of the Terps ran towards the goal in jubilation as Maryland booked their second straight Final Four appearance and a trip to Storrs, Connecticut, next weekend. Maryland secured its first shootout victory since a 3-2 win against No. 6 Virginia in September 2019.

“We just did it yesterday in training with the same order of people, so we were ready to go and prepared,” head coach Missy Meharg said. “Paige…trained yesterday in a competitive environment just like this, so, fortunately, we simulated it pretty much exactly.”

Maryland clawing back in the shootout mimicked the early parts of regulation. Syracuse struck first as forward Quirine Comans fired a shot that took a deflection off a Maryland player and rolled in the net. 

The Terps dominated Syracuse statistically throughout regulation but found itself trailing 1-0 at halftime as Borzymowski made six saves in the first half on eight Maryland shots. 

Maryland came out of the halftime break pressing hard, earning a penalty corner in the opening minute. The Terps continued to fire shots directly at Borzymowski’s pads as she and the Syracuse penalty corner defense successfully defended four straight Maryland corners. 

“This team is very literal,” Meharg said. “One of the things we said [was] just make this goalie play the ball because she really hasn’t had a great year. Of course, we made her play, we shot at her pads all day.”

Despite firing six shots in the third quarter, the Terps still trailed 1-0 as they entered the final frame. 

Maryland started the fourth quarter like they did the third quarter, earning a penalty corner. On Maryland’s ninth corner, they finally got past Borzymowski. 

Defender Riley Donnelly took a weak shot that got deflected to midfielder Emma DeBerdine who punched it in, tying the game. 

Around nine minutes later, Maryland’s offense struck again. Midfielder Sophie Klautz came up clutch firing a shot around her body that rolled in to give Maryland its first lead with under six minutes left. 

Syracuse responded a minute later, finding their equalizer by scoring off a penalty corner. Defender Eefke van de Nieuwenhof fired a shot over a diving Christina Calandra. The ball hit the top of the board for a goal, sending the game to overtime.  

Syracuse thoroughly dominated the two overtime periods outshooting the Terps 6-0 in the 20 extra minutes. 

Syracuse had chances to win in both overtime periods earning two penalty corners, but the Terps’ defense stopped both opportunities.

“Christina saved our butts a couple of times during the game,” Rose said. 

Calandra made a critical kick save late in the double overtime period on an Orange penalty corner that sent the game to a shootout. 

The Terps have played with lots of resiliency all season, winning several overtime games. This time, it came in a shootout. 

The Terps will take on No. 2 Northwestern in the Final Four on Friday, where they look to advance to the national championship.