Maryland women’s lacrosse stays undefeated
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (BVM) — The University of Maryland women‘s lacrosse team is on a winning streak as it took down Villanova on Sunday afternoon in a 19-7 blowout.
The Terps were forced to change fields after inclement weather delayed the game on Saturday. Instead, the Terps geared up to play in the brand new state-of-the-art Jones-Hill Field House. This posed a challenge for the team as they are used to playing in a much smaller field at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse complex down the road.
Senior midfielder Grace Griffin believed that despite the unfortunate weather circumstances, the Terps would still prevail.
“We had to trust each other, trust the coaches, the grounds crew, everyone here and then step out on the field and just do what we always do,” Griffin said.
Maryland began the start of the game with the same lineup from the past games of the season, with Shannon Smith taking the draw and Grace Griffin on the circle along with Emily Sterling in the cage.
This midfield line has seemed to work throughout the Terps season as they have come out on top with draw controls in all of their games so far.
However, this was not the case on Sunday afternoon. Villanova dominated the draw control 17-12 with senior defender Sydney Frank winning the first draw control of the game against Shaylan Ahearn.
With the game starting off on the defensive end of the field, the Terps had to utilize new tactics to regain control of the ball. The defensive end pressed the Villanova offense for much of the first half of the game in order to move the ball downfield.
“To be able to kind of have that composure and that poise when you’re down there having to play defense first says a lot about our team and where we are at this point in the season,” head coach Kathy Reese said.
A few minutes into the first quarter, Griffin was able to find the back of the net which was assisted by sophomore attacker Eloise Clevenger with a goal by her following shortly after.
Villanova managed to tie up the game halfway into the first quarter with Caroline Kurnal scoring once and Sydney Pappas scoring another.
Shaylan Ahearn exited pretty early in the game because of a knee injury, so Reese was forced to try out some new players in that spot, but was still unsuccessful.
Griffin put the Terps back on top at 4-3 and less than a minute later, Clevenger also scored.
Standout player Aurora Cordingley scored her 22nd goal of the season in the first quarter from a foul shot off of Villanova. Cordingley is making history as being one of the most recognized lacrosse players in the United States as she is currently the NCAA stat leader scoring an average of seven points per game.
On the defensive end, transfer Abby Bosco played flawlessly as she had four ground balls and three caused turnovers in the second half with Maddie Sanchez coming in as a close second.
At the end of the second half, freshman Jordyn Lipkin and junior transfer Shannon Smith were able to regain control of the draw and the Terps were unstoppable.
“We came up with some big ones at the end of the game which were huge,” Reese said.
The Terps were able to come out on top in a 19-7 win over the Wildcats.
