Though the Maryland women’s lacrosse team faced Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten tournament on Friday, hosting the conference’s playoffs for the first time was not the main milestone of the evening.
Attacker Megan Whittle capped off a three-goal first half with a free position to notch her 200th career score. The junior is the only non-senior to reach the mark in program history, doing so in just 63 games.
Whittle said the goal was exciting, smiling as she described her father flashing a thumbs-up from the stands. The excitement propelled her to finish with five goals as she and the No. 1-seed Terps barraged the No. 4-seed Blue Jays with an all-out attack, advancing to the Big Ten championship game with a 19-16 victory.
“Our offense is playing really well right now,” coach Cathy Reese said. “Moving the ball well, creating opportunities for each other and finishing on our shots.”
When the Terps and Blue Jays squared off in March, Johns Hopkins only mustered four goals in a 17-4 loss. Friday was a different story, but Maryland’s offensive outburst negated the most goals they’ve allowed in a game this season.
The No. 1 Terps endured a rocky opening few minutes, though. After Whittle opened the scoring from a free position, Johns Hopkins went on a 3-0 run. However, the Terps trailed for fewer than two minutes.
Attacker Caroline Steele scored two goals and midfielder Zoe Stukenberg added one as the Terps (18-0) led, 4-3, after the quick turnaround.
The Blue Jays (11-7) utilized varying defensive tactics against the nation’s top scoring offense, initially faceguarding attacker Caroline Wannen before turning their attention to Whittle. One Johns Hopkins defender even followed Whittle across the field as she received instructions from assistant coach Caitlyn Phipps. However, the Terps exploited the space left by the missing defender, going on a 5-1 run in an eight-minute span.
“We were prepared for however many faceguards they wanted to do,” Whittle said. “We saw four or five looks in this game alone and that’s just what defenses try to do to stop us. We need to rise above that.”
Johns Hopkins went on a 4-0 spurt in the latter stages of the frame, but the Terps had established enough of a lead to hold them off.
Four Terps—Whittle, Stukenberg, Steele and midfielder Kali Hartshorn— notched first half hat tricks as the hosts took a four-goal cushion into intermission.
“We all stepped in when we needed to step in,” Hartshorn said.
After the Blue Jays scored first to open the second half, their bench went wild. However, that was as close as they came.
Coming off a six-goal performance at Northwestern last week, Steele added five tallies Friday. Whittle and Hartshorn notched five and four goals, respectively. Wannen, despite facing a man-marker for a portion of the game, supplied four assists.
Still, Reese said the Terps were a step late on their slides and couldn’t prevent the Blue Jays from a successful shooting night.
“We had moments that were great but some opportunities were too easy,” Reese said. “We need to be better and limit those opportunities.”
The Terps await the winner of No. 2-seed Penn State and No. 3-seed Northwestern for Sunday’s championship game.
Any residual excitement from Whittle’s milestone will wear off by then.
“To be able to do that as a junior is something I’m really proud of,” Whittle said. “At the same time, we’re not finished yet.”
