Terps Clinch Big Ten Regular Season Title

By Layne Litsinger
The No. 1 Maryland women’s lacrosse team capped their regular season with a perfect record of 17-0 as they defeated conference rival the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions by a close score of 13-10.

The Terps wasted no time getting on the board, as Junior Taylor Cummings won the ball off the draw, ran down the center of the field and scored within the first ten seconds of the match. Cummings then scored again about 30 seconds later to put the Terps up 2-0.

The undefeated Terps captured their first-ever Big Ten title (Courtesy of UMTerps.com)

The Terps then continued their quick start as Redshirt senior Brooke Griffin scored off of a free position, followed by a goal by Sophomore Zoe Stukenberg assisted by Senior Kelly McPartland. Senior Kristin Lamon then continued the scoring streak off of an assist from Griffin.

Penn State finally got on the board at 18:58 with a goal from Junior Madison Cyr. The Terps answered quickly though with a goal from Lamon, assisted by Stukenberg. Penn state scored two more times, and Maryland scored once more to close out the first half with a score of 8-3.

Starting the second half, both teams went back and forth taking shots and causing turnovers. Both teams were very gritty, and Penn State fought hard to keep up with the Terps.

At 23:39 Penn State got on the board again with a goal by Freshman Katie O’Donnell. The Nittany Lions then scored three more unanswered goals to make the score 8-7.

The Terps then resettled and scored three goals. Two came from Cummings, and one came from McPartland. This put the Terps back at a comfortable distance with 16:11 left in the second half.

Penn State then scored again at 14:17 with a goal from Sophomore Steph Lazo to keep the score close at 11-8.

Both teams went on to score two more goals before the game came to an end. Zoe Stukenberg and Freshman Taylor Hensh both contributed one more to close the game out at a final score of 13-10.

The Terps maintained a steadily aggressive defense led by Redshirt senior goalie Alex Fitzpatrick who made six saves and had two groundballs.

The Terps were crowned the Big Ten Regular Season Champions following the game. They will now play in the inaugural Big Ten Women’s Lacrosse Tournament starting next week.