Head coach Missy Meharg promised after Friday’s loss that the Terps would come out stronger on Sunday and the team did just that. No. 9 Maryland field hockey (2-1) came out attacking to earn a 4-0 shutout victory against No. 12 Duke (1-3).
“We started off today like it was a continuation (of the third and fourth quarter) from Friday’s match,” Meharg said. “We had four very strong quarters, we played three different presses and were able to be dominant throughout the whole game.”
About four minutes into the game, the Terps opened the scoring up when defender Riley Donnelly drove the ball into the circle and sent the ball across to forward Bibi Donraadt who finished right at the doorstep of the net to give the Terps the lead.
A few minutes later, forward Anna Castaldo sent a shot to Duke’s goalie Piper Hampsch who blocked the shot, but the rebound, grabbed by midfielder Kyler Greenwalt, drew the goalie’s attention. Greenwalt then passed the ball to Donraadt, who continued her strong scoring night with another easy strike through the open net for her second goal of the game..
Donraadt’s second goal of the afternoon was her third of the season and is two scores shy of her Spring 2021 total of 5. In just the first quarter alone, Donraadt had four shots with three of them on goal.
The second quarter was fairly quiet up until about four minutes to go in the half, when forward Mayv Clune intercepted a Blue Devils pass and sent the ball ahead into the circle to forward Hope Rose, who buried the ball into the net to score her first goal as a Terp to extend the Terps lead to 3-0.
With 10:49 left in the third quarter, the Blue Devils earned their best scoring opportunity with their only two penalty corners of the game. Each time, the shot was blocked. On the second attempt, Terps goalie Noelle Frost kicked the rebound shot out of the circle to keep the Terps shutout bid intact.
After getting plagued by aerial balls in their game against Boston College, the Terps used the aerial ball to their advantage for the back-breaking score. Donraadt sent the ball up the field to charging forward Margot Lawn and midfielder Julianna Tornetta. Lawn received the ball and gave it to Tornetta who also scored her first goal for the Terps to give the team a 4-0 lead.
“I thought Maryland handled lobbying the ball into space and gaining momentum from it very well,” Meharg said. “I’m super happy that Maryland took advantage of learning from the defense and applying it to the attack.”
The lone struggle today for the Terps was on converting penalty corners. The Terps earned eight penalty corners but were unable to score off on any of them.
The Terps defense improved drastically from Friday’s loss against Boston College and held the Blue Devils to only four shots the entire game.
“I think we played real simple hockey which helped us a lot,” Donraadt said. “We were really patient and focused. Obviously after Friday’s match we watched the video together and pointed out some things we had to work on which we did yesterday.”
The Terps will return to College Park next weekend for the annual Terrapin Invitational tournament where they will play UMass on Friday Sept. 10 at 4 p.m. and Cal on Sunday Sept. 12 at 2 p.m.
