On the first possession of Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech, the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team wasted no time to attack.
Attacker Sarah Mollison set up the offense from behind the goal and waited for an open teammate. Midfielder Katie Schwarzmann streaked toward the goal, received the pass from Mollison and whipped the ball to the upper right corner of the goal.
Only 37 seconds into the game, the Terps had their first shot — and their first goal.
Three minutes later, midfielder Amanda Spinnenweber scored on the team’s second shot.
The offense didn’t stop. For the rest of the afternoon, the No. 3 Terps kept up their deadly shooting against a defenseless Virginia Tech squad at Ludwig Field, running away with a blowout 18-4 victory.
All week, the Terps (14-1, 4-1 ACC) had focused on their struggling shooting in practice. It paid off on the field. During the first half, the team scored 12 goals on only 16 shots to give coach Cathy Reese her 100th coaching victory.
“We found our openings, and we stuck our shots today, which is a really important thing for us,” Mollison said. “Everyone was accountable for their own opportunities, and we made the most of it.”
The win also secured the Terps a share of the ACC regular season championship for the fourth consecutive year. While the Hokies (6-10, 0-5) didn’t present a difficult challenge for the Terps, they did give the team back some confidence on offense.
“We don’t want to take any team lightly,” attacker Karri Ellen Johnson said.
The Terps scored the first seven goals of the game in less than 15 minutes of play. Johnson scored three of those, finishing with a game-high four goals. By the time the Hokies finally notched their first goal 17 minutes in, the game was out of their reach.
In the first half alone, the team shot 75 percent. The mark dipped in the second half as Reese emptied her entire bench to replace the starters. But by then, the Terps had flexed their offensive muscle.
Johnson scored four goals on four shots, Mollison scored three goals on three shots, and Laura Merrifield scored two goals on two shots.
“We’re really emphasizing [shooting],” Reese said. “It’s not the number of shots you get every game, it’s trying to finish the ones that we take. We made that our goal today.”
The Terps controlled the majority of the draws throughout the game, allowing the offense to settle back into the same scoring groove absent from their recent games. Ten different players on the Terps scored and seven finished with at least one assist.
The team also played stifling defense against the Hokies, coming up with 20 turnovers and allowing only two goals each half. Brittany Dipper started in goal for the third straight game and finished with two saves. Reese used backups Mary Jordan and Kasey Howard in the second half.
But the Hokies aren’t the kind of team the Terps expect to play in the later rounds this weekend. Virginia Tech ranks as the worst team in the ACC, and likely won’t survive the first round of the ACC Tournament, which starts Thursday at Ludwig Field.
Still, the dominating performance allowed Reese to make the necessary adjustments to gear up for the postseason.
“There’s a great energy with our team right now,” Reese said. “We’re really excited going into the rest of our season.”
ceckard@umdbk.com
