What a difference two months – and a possible fourth straight ACC Championship – can make.
After a forgettable loss at Duke in late February, its first of an up-and-down season, the Terrapins women’s lacrosse team more than reversed its fortune against the Blue Devils on Saturday.
With a blowout of Virginia Tech on Friday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, the No. 5 Terps advanced to face No. 8 Duke, which had home-field advantage in Durham, N.C., and had earned a first-round bye. None of that seemed to matter, as the Terps held the Blue Devils to a meager 13 shots and a tournament-record-low three goals in a 12-3 Terps victory.
For the third straight time, they will face top-seeded North Carolina tonight in the ACC Championship. The Tar Heels are undefeated in conference play this year, but the Terps have won the past three league titles.
“I think this was the most complete game of lacrosse we’ve played all season,” coach Cathy Reese said. “I thought we played awesome defense. Brittany Dipper made some great saves in goal, which got our momentum going. We moved the ball so well on offense and were able, after a tough start, to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Despite the significant disparity in the eventual outcome, it took almost the entire first half for the Terps’ (15-3) offense to make a dent in the scoreboard. Duke midfielder Kim Wenger put the Blue Devils (10-6) out in front about two minutes into the game, but no more goals came until 7:31 remained in the first half. After Duke couldn’t convert during a five-minute possession, all the momentum swung in the Terps’ favor. Midfielder Katie Schwarzmann, whose four goals alone outstripped the total of the ACC’s second-seeded team, notched the first goal in a 4-0 run to close out the first half.
To start the second half, the Terps seemed to leave no doubt that their previous meeting with the Blue Devils was a fluke. After attacker Alex Aust fed attacker Kristy Black for a 7-2 lead five minutes into the period, the team’s second six-goal streak in the game was underway. Little changed for Aust, who finished the day with three goals and four assists. The junior broke the tournament record for total assists after she added four to the five she posted Friday against the Hokies.
“We were really happy because we were just having fun. I think that’s the most fun we’ve had all season where we played the game that we wanted to play and really executed everything well,” Aust said. “As far as the assists, we were executing all of our offense as well, and we were just being aggressive and intense. Everything kind of fell together.”
The Terps left no room for error in avenging their first conference loss of the season. The question for tonight is obvious: Can they do the same for their second?
“We’re just a completely different team now,” said Aust, who had three goals and two assists in the Terps’ 14-11 loss to North Carolina on April 7. “We have a lot of freshmen who are starting and playing and never played ACC teams at all. We’ve matured so much … and hopefully we can peak at the right time and just keep going with this momentum.”
munson@umdbk.com
