Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics
By Alex Littlehales
The still undefeated women’s Lacrosse team notched a 17-5 victory against regional conference rival Rutgers, in their first Big Ten home game of the season.
Despite adverse playing conditions, including 20 plus MPH winds, nothing would deter the Terps from anything less than a dominant victory in College Park.
“At this point we’ve seen it all, we just try to block it out and play,” said defensive junior Alice Mercer.
The win added to the Terrapins win streak, currently at 22 games and the longest in Division I Women’s Lacrosse.
Maryland began the match like any other: up-tempo and offensively potent. Taylor Cummings drew first blood within the first 45 seconds, then senior Kelly McPartland would split an aggressive double team pushing the Terps to a quick 2-0 lead.
Rutgers rallied with a goal of their own, but the Terrapins seemed to be uncomfortable leading by only a single goal. Cummings ripped a corner shot with dominating fashion, pushing the lead to 5-1 within a matter of minutes.
After a Megan Whittle goal, Cummings won the ensuing draw, and strode downfield within seconds to reach a hat trick with 18 minutes left to go in the half alone.
With six minutes left to play in the half, the Terps advanced to a substantial 10-1 after goals by Whittle and Erin Collins.
“Our defense really locked down, they caused over 11 turnovers,” said Cummings. “The defense really helped propel our offense.”
In addition to the seemingly unstoppable offense that helped this team win the national title just last season, Maryland’s defense was nearly impenetrable. Double teams were used on virtually every possession, ensuring a staggered Rutgers offense. Rutgers attack was unable to compose themselves enough to escape Maryland’s traps.
The second half was Maryland simply on cruise control. Whittle continued to show great promise as a freshman, reaching a hat trick within the first minute. After a mishandled pass, senior Brooke Griffin took advantage of a tired Rutgers defense to streak untouched for a goal, giving the Terps a 12 goal 14-2 lead. However at that point, the game was already emotionally over for the underdog Rutgers team.
Goals by underclassmen Shelby Scanlin, Taylor Hensch, and Lindsay Biondi, foreshadowed this teams promising future as Maryland finished the game with an easy 17-5 lead.
Maryland doesn’t just win these games; they completely dominate their opponents and take over the game. Last week they handed No.4 Northwestern a crushing defeat double-digit defeat in Evanston. The Terps this season are rarely contested, and if they are they’re high octane offense dispels any hope for opponents rather quickly.
“We focus on us, we’re focusing on Maryland, how we’re going to execute plays and how we’re going to talk on defense,” said Alice Maercer. “We don’t think about what the other team is doing.”
The Terps return to College Park this Wednesday to face No. 15 Princeton at 7 p.m. under the lights.
