Early on this season, No. 6 Maryland women’s lacrosse has been looking for someone to take the lead and help its success.
On Valentine’s Day, it was graduate attacker Kristen Shanahan who took things into her own hands, but not by finding the back of the net. Rather, finding her teammates to score.
Shanahan’s goal and six assists led the Terps past No. 12 Virginia, 17-9 at SECU Stadium.
“I think it’s just knowing what teammate is going to do what. I know Keeley [Block]’s gonna cut, I know Lauren [Lapointe]’s going to dodge, what every teammate is probably gonna do,” said Shanahan.
Shanahan was a triple-threat on attack and helped three Terps record hat-tricks on Saturday. Kori Edmondson, Jordyn Lipkin and Keeley Block combined for 10 goals to help the Terps prevail.
The Terps’ offense fired on all cylinders and the Cavaliers didn’t have much of an answer. But Saturday was more than just a game.
Love and lacrosse were in the air during this contest as both head coaches not only played lacrosse at Maryland themselves but met their lacrosse husbands there as well.
Guiding the Cavaliers was head coach Sonia LaMonica, who played at Maryland, graduating in 2003, and married Maryland men’s lacrosse player Michael LaMonica.
On the sidelines, leading them to victory was Reese. She played lacrosse at Maryland until 1998 and married former professional lacrosse player Brian Reese, whom she met at Maryland.
That said, there was no love lost between two former ACC rivals on Saturday after playing for the first time in College Park since 2018.
“I have so much respect for these teams. I’ve battled with these guys since the beginning of time, like my time even playing lacrosse in college,” said head coach Cathy Reese, “ you know you’re going to get a battle and you know you’ve got to earn it.”
Maryland won the first draw of the game with freshman midfielder Kayla Gilmore starting its offensive stand early.
The Terps dominated on the draws, getting 12 of the 15 from the first half. By the end of the game, Maryland had a winning draw control percentage of 69.2%.
Soon after the first draw, Maryland scored the first goal of the game. Junior midfielder Lexi Dupcak wasted no time and went straight for the goal, assisted by Shanahan.
The Terps couldn’t hold that 1-0 lead for the first quarter because Virginia’s Addi Foster made a goal with six minutes to go, tying up the two teams early.
Maryland wasn’t going to let that score stay. A minute later, a rocket was shot from the right corner of the eight-meter by senior midfielder Kori Edmonson and a subsequent goal came from graduate midfielder Jordyn Lipkin, both assisted by Shanahan.
Later, Shanahan got her own goal off a penalty shot with about three minutes left in the first quarter.
The Terps led by four at halftime, but wasn’t done there. Edmonson was able to rally for the Terps and ended up getting four goals in the second half; she’s now up to four for the season, starting to exemplify her lacrosse talents from last season.
In the third quarter, freshman Ava Meyn scored her second and third collegiate goals.
“She doesn’t play like a freshman,” said Block
Meyn had another goal soon after, unassisted, after the ball bounced in and out of the crease.
“Which is awesome, coming into a group of attackers who are grad students and a junior, being able to step up and fulfill that role,” added Shanahan.
In the net for the Cavaliers was graduate student Elyse Finelle from Florida for all four quarters, a change from the usual starter, senior Mel Josephson. Finelle performed well despite the loss, earning her starting position with an average save percentage of 42.1%.
Virginia had some push, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Virginia clawed its way back with two goals back-to-back in the fourth quarter. For other production, Virginia had a sibling duo goal from the twins, Livy Laverghetta, assisted by Gabby Laverghetta.
The Terps took care of business and took their second ranked win over an ACC opponent in the early part of the season.
