By Connor Bell

In what started off as a battle of top defenses the Notre Dame Fighting Irish broke through the Terps’ defense, to cause Maryland to walk away with their second loss of the season, 9-4.

The first two goals of the half for the Terrapins were scored by Matt Rambo and Lucas Gradinger as the Terps took a 2-1 lead over the top team in the country. But the Irish came fighting back, tying the game 2-2 near the end of the second quarter.

In the third quarter, the Irish came out firing and earned a quick goal to take the lead 3-2 with only 45 seconds gone in the second half. The Terps could not rebound from this as Colin Heacock and the aggressive Terps’ offense fired barrages of shots at Notre Dame goalie Shane Doss but could not break one of the top defenses in the country.

The continued strong defense allowed the Irish to hop out to a 4-2 lead, which the Terps eventually cut to 4-3 heading into the fourth quarter. However the game eventually just got away from Maryland has the Irish defense never broke, but the Terps’ eventually did.

The Irish ended up outscoring Maryland 5-1 in the fourth quarter, but all the while the game was tied 4-4 late into the final quarter.

It was not until the 5:22 mark in the fourth quarter, when the Irish scored to make it 5-4. After that goal things got out of hand as it lead to five straight Notre Dame goals to put the Terps away.

The Terps finished with a total of 28 shots and three penalties when the Irish had nobody in the penalty box all game. Maryland looks to end its two-loss skid when it travels to Philadelphia to play the Drexel Dragons this Tuesday.