Ali McEvoy, Katie Gerzabek and Sarah Sprink celebrate with forward Jill Witmer after her game-winning goal in the Terps’ 2-1 win over Syracuse on Oct. 18, 2013.
If a team was going to slow down the Terrapins field hockey’s red-hot offense, an Indiana defense that entered Friday’s bout averaging 1.49 goals against seemed like a prime candidate. But the Hoosiers failed to contain the Terps attackers, and the Terps scored five times in the first half — more goals than the Hoosiers had allowed in a game all season.
Behind scores from seven different players, the No. 2 Terps coasted to another blowout victory, beating No. 19 Indiana, 8-2, to extend their winning streak to nine games.
The Terps (14-2, 6-1 Big Ten) jumped out to an early lead after forward Moira Putsch earned a penalty stroke less than five minutes in. Midfielder Anna Dessoye, who was 2-2 on penalty strokes on the season, opted to shoot to the right for the first time on the year, and she buried it in the top corner.
After the Hoosiers (9-6, 1-6) kept the Terps out of the back of the net for the next 10 minutes, the Terps struck again, this time off a penalty corner. Indiana goalkeeper Maggie Olson, who ranked second in the Big Ten with a .796 save percentage entering the game, made two initial saves, but defender Carrie Hanks finished off the third chance.
The Terps proceeded to score three more times in the next five minutes. Olson exited the game with an injury after Hanks’ goal, and Dessoye took advantage of backup goalkeeper Katie Johnson by sending a backhanded effort past her.
Olson returned moments later, but it didn’t matter. Defender Sarah Sprink powered a straight shot past her on a penalty corner. Less than a minute later, forward Welma Luus capped the scoring run to put the Terps up 5-0 with more than 16 minutes remaining in the half.
Indiana got one back on their only shot of the first half off a corner with less than six minutes left, but it didn’t spark a comeback.
The Terps offense picked back up in the second half when forward Emma Rissinger finished her third goal of the season off a pass from midfielder Maxine Fluharty. Forward Shari Jones and Fluharty added goals of their own later in the game to mark the third time in the Terps’ past four games they have scored at least eight goals.
