Maryland women’s lacrosse senior midfielder Taylor Cummings has lost three games during her time in College Park, and one of those came against Ohio State last season to knock the Terps out of the Big Ten Tournament.
And in the team’s 11-10 loss to the Buckeyes in the conference semifinals, one of the nation’s premier offensive players went scoreless.
Eighth-ranked Ohio State traveled to College Park on Saturday, and this time the Buckeyes couldn’t contain the two-time Tewaaraton winner around the net. Cummings scored five goals and tallied a season-high seven points on Senior Day as the No. 1 Terps cruised to a 15-5 win over Ohio State.
“Taylor’s just so dominant all over the field,” coach Cathy Reese said. “She does it all.”
After the Terps went into halftime with a 7-4 advantage, Cummings fueled a dominating second half that put the game away.
She bounced a pair of shots between the legs of Buckeyes goalkeeper Katie Frederick before three minutes came off the clock in the second half. On the Terps’ next two scores, both of which came from midfielder Zoe Stukenberg, Cummings tallied the assists.
And in a span of 32 seconds at about the 13-minute mark, Cummings scored two more times to give the Terps a 14-4 lead that resulted in a running clock.
Cummings “couldn’t have had a better Senior Day,” defender Alice Mercer said. “Being beside her, it’s nice.”
Early on, though, it appeared Cummings would have another silent game offensively.
In fact, it took close to 14 minutes for the Terps to get on the board, the longest it has taken the nation’s second-best offense to score all season. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, received a goal from attacker Molly Wood 32 seconds into the contest. Midfielder Christine Easton’s free-position shot pushed the lead to two a few minutes later.
But the Terps scored the next four goals, the last of which came from Cummings. The Ellicott City native was fouled with just under nine minutes remaining in the first half and took advantage of a free-position shot opportunity.
While the Terps defense allowed the Buckeyes to score two more times before the break, Cummings’ shot appeared to give the offense momentum that it used to take a 7-4 halftime lead. From there, the Terps went on to blow out a team that got the best of them a year ago.
“Once a team proves they can beat you, it’s always a little more intense,” Cummings said. “I wouldn’t say revenge because it’s a new year, new team.”
But Stukenberg said the Terps still talk about how they fell short of winning the conference tournament title a year ago. Cummings said the loss to the Buckeyes is always “rubbed in our face.”
“For the people who lost last year, it’s always in the back of our minds,” Cummings said. “We kind of wanted to prove we can beat them.”
And behind Cummings’ dominant offensive output, the Terps did just that.
