Maryland women’s lacrosse coach Cathy Reese wants her squad’s offense to be “consistent and dynamic” as it prepares to end the regular season.
In order for her young team to have success, Reese said, the Terps who play on the offensive crease need to produce routinely. Freshman midfielder Caroline Steele is one of those players.
Entering the No. 1 Terps’ matchup with Michigan on Saturday, Steele, the team’s fourth-leading scorer, had scored three times over the previous three games. Virginia kept her off the board for the first time this season last Wednesday.
But that wasn’t the case in the Terps’ 18-8 win over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday afternoon as Steele recorded a hat trick for the first time since April 9.
With all her goals coming before intermission in addition to an assist to start the second half, Steele helped the nation’s best offense pull away from Michigan early in the game.
“She’s an unbelievable player,” midfielder Bryn Boucher said. “She’s never going to be in a slump. Once she starts rolling, she doesn’t even think about past games.”
At Michigan Stadium, it took Steele a little while to find the back of the net as her first tally didn’t come until the 18-minute mark of the opening period.
The first time Steele drove to the goal, she aimed high, but the attempt landed directly in the stick of Michigan goalkeeper Allison Silber.
But then the rookie started to exploit the Wolverines defense.
“Today, she definitely stood out,” midfielder Jen Giles said. “She was taking the ball really hard and played really amazing.”
About 12 minutes into the contest, Steele’s bounce shot gave the Terps a 4-1 advantage. Less than two minutes later, she drove and bounced another shot through Silber’s legs.
Steele’s final score of the afternoon — the third in the Terps’ 5-0 run to end the first half — gave Maryland a 13-5 edge with about two and a half minutes until the break.
Steele was one of three Terps to record hat tricks against Michigan, though the only player to do so before halftime.
“She’s had the confidence since she stepped on the field in the fall,” Boucher said. “She knows the next game is just another game, and she’s going to play her game.”
Entering the match with the Wolverines, Steele had scored once against the team’s win over Ohio State on April 16 and twice against Princeton three days before that. And Maryland’s match with the Cavaliers last Wednesday was the only time this season Steele hadn’t registered a point.
While the Terps offense hadn’t slipped without her production, Steele’s performance against Michigan is what Reese had become accustomed to seeing at the beginning of the campaign.
“We’re going to continue to push her to try and make her better,” Reese said. “She’s going to continue to attack and move the ball. She was able to make a change in the middle of a game that was as physical and tough as it was.”
Reese said Steele’s contributions as a player on the crease will be “crucial to the team’s success.”
“She just needed a boost,” Boucher said. “Once she gets that and once she starts rolling, she doesn’t even think about past mistakes.”
