After a tough 16-4 road loss against Northwestern this past weekend, No. 6 Maryland women’s lacrosse was looking for a win to bolster its Big Ten record.
Hosting conference newcomers Oregon, the Terps took an early lead in the first half and held onto their advantage for the rest of the game, flipping the Northwestern scoreline in a 16-4 win over the Ducks.
Oregon (5-6, 0-4 Big Ten) was winless in its three other conference games prior to Thursday’s matchup at The ‘Plex. Defensive struggles were a common theme in those defeats, with the Ducks allowing just over 16 goals per game.
Yet, defensively, Oregon started Thursday’s meeting strongly.
Maryland (7-3, 3-1 Big Ten) had two promising possessions within the first three minutes of the game, but Oregon’s defense stopped the ball on both occasions.
But, the first seven minutes of the game were not reflective of the other 53.
Maisy Clevenger put Maryland on the board for the first time with just over eight minutes left in the first quarter — a rarity for a Maryland team that’s made a habit out of scoring early goals this season.
“[It] has been awesome to see her grow and watching her continue to grow,” captain Kori Edmondson said of Clevenger.
The Terps’ offense erupted for the rest of the first half following Clevenger’s goal. They scored three more times in quick succession and ended the first quarter with a 4-0 lead.
Maryland repeated its scoring trend in the second quarter by notching four more goals. The only difference was Oregon found a way to get a goal on the board with less than three minutes before the break.
The Ducks’ lone score represented the fewest goals Maryland’s conceded in a half all season.
During the second half, Maryland took full advantage of the seven-goal lead and gave every player time on the field.
“Today was an awesome opportunity to get everybody on the field that could play, and we saw everybody contribute,” head coach Cathy Reese said.
This included all four of its goalies, beginning with freshman Julia Ward, who replaced Maryland’s starting goalie, JJ Suriano, in the third quarter.
The Terps scored five goals in the third, the highest output either team had in any quarter. Edmondson earned her sixth hat trick of the season when she scored Maryland’s 11th goal with 5:21 remaining in the third. But her efforts didn’t stop there.
She scored another goal just 17 seconds later and finished the game with five draw controls.
Edmondson wasn’t Maryland’s only hat trick scorer either. Freshman Emma Abbazia and sophomore Lauren LaPointe earned their first hat tricks of the season on Thursday as well.
Maryland finished the second half scoring another eight goals while holding Oregon to three.
The Terps finished with eight different scorers on their 16 goals. Half of those goals were assisted as well.
Maryland’s next four games are all on the road. The Terps begin that travel on Monday when they go up to Philadelphia to face Penn (4-3, 1-0 Ivy League).
