Alex Aust
Standing on the turf at Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex following the Terrapins women’s lacrosse team’s game against Penn on Saturday, Cathy Reese tirelessly listed the medley of mistakes her team made.
The Terps were too complacent on defense. They didn’t help when they needed to. They turned the ball over too many times. They just needed to be more consistent.
Listening to the sixth-year coach’s assortment of critiques, one would be hard-pressed to believe the No. 1 Terps had come away from the contest with a victory. But that’s exactly what they did.
Led by attacker Alex Aust’s six goals, the Terps defeated the Quakers, 15-10.
“I sound so negative,” Reese said. “It was a good win. … But you sit there afterwards and try to nitpick, like, ‘What is it that we need to do a little bit better?’”
On a day that No. 2 Florida fell to No. 9 Penn State — leaving the Terps and Notre Dame as the last two unbeaten teams in the nation — it would seem Reese has little reason to be pessimistic. But the season is still far from over. The NCAA championships aren’t won in March, and if Reese’s team wants to be the last one standing in May, it can’t risk being satisfied.
But after jumping out to a solid 10-2 lead in the first period, the Terps (13-0) did become content. Penn (4-4) rattled off a 4-0 run that spanned both halves, shaving the deficit to four with more than 26 minutes left in the game.
“I think [getting complacent] is one of our main struggles,” Aust said. “It’s hard to do something for 60 minutes, to have that discipline.”
The squads traded punches throughout the second period, but neither team was able to mount a serious run. In the end, the Terps’ early-game cushion was enough to bail them out.
Midfielder Kelly McPartland kicked off the early scoring barrage with a goal just 51 seconds into the contest. The Terps scored three more times before the Quakers found the back of the net. After trading two goals apiece, the Terps rattled off a 5-0 run to take a 10-2 lead with 5:09 remaining in the period.
“We have such a dynamic offense,” Aust said. “Every single person on our team can score, all seven of us, which I think makes us so different. It makes my job easy.”
But as Reese alluded to in her postgame news conference, the Terps got a bit too comfortable with the big cushion and allowed Penn to mount its 4-0 run.
After winning the draw control with less than 30 seconds remaining in the half, the Quakers swiftly drove down the field, and Penn midfielder Maddie Poplawski fired a shot past goalkeeper Kasey Howard as time expired.
Motivated by the buzzer-beating tally, the Quakers came out with a surge of energy to begin the second period. Midfielder Iris Williamson scored with 26:49 left in the game, and suddenly the Terps’ eight-goal cushion had been cut in half.
“I think we were a little sloppy,” midfielder Katie Schwarzmann said. “We didn’t play a full 60 minutes today. They really capitalized on some of our mistakes.”
After the Terps dominated the draw control battle, 12-3, in the first half, the Quakers corralled seven of the period’s 11 opportunities. They turned those possessions into points, too, as Penn notched four more goals to the Terps’ five before time expired. But the Terps’ huge first-half lead ultimately proved too much for Penn to overcome.
After struggling to gut out a win, though, the Terps aren’t ready to sing their own praises. They still have work to do.
“We just want to keep getting better,” Reese said. “Fixing the things we need to so we can be the best team we can be.”
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