Against No. 2 Florida, the Terrapins women’s lacrosse team’s defense held the Gators’ up-tempo offense to four goals, the fewest they had scored all season.
It was also the fewest goals the defensive unit had allowed all year.
In an 18-6 victory over James Madison at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex on Saturday afternoon, the No. 1 Terps’ defense continued its success.
The Dukes (4-7) entered the contest averaging more than 12 goals per game. They didn’t come close to that against the Terps (8-0).
While the Terps entered the game with the ninth-best scoring defense in the country, they allowed No. 19 Penn to end Wednesday night’s 12-8 victory on a 6-0 run.
Midfielder Taylor Cummings said the Terps got complacent again in the first half against the Dukes.
Attacker Megan Whittle scored a pair of unassisted goals from the left side of the circle to open the game. Just more than seven minutes into the contest, the Terps held a 4-0 lead.
But then the Dukes started to exploit the Terps defense.
“We got a little lazy in there,” Cummings said. “We didn’t cover cutters. We weren’t sending doubles.”
Dukes attacker Margaret Tucker Fogarty put James Madison on the board for the first time about 10 minutes into the first half. About a minute later, attacker Betsy Angel scored before midfielder Haley Warden found the net for a three-goal spurt.
One of the three was a fast-break goal that resulted from an unsuccessful Terps clear attempt.
Defender Alice Mercer said after the Dukes’ run, the defense made it a goal to help Cummings on the draw and have more success fielding 50/50 ground balls.
“We were playing complacent,” defender Alice Mercer. “We were making all these stops and then we let our foot off the gas.”
But unlike the Terps were able to do against the Quakers, they ended the streak and put together a run of their own.
Midfielder Kacie Longo’s goal with about 14 minutes remaining gave the Terps a 5-3 edge. Cummings, who finished with three goals and two assists, added her first of the day.
James Madison called a timeout. But it didn’t make a difference.
The Terps ended the half on an 8-0 run to take a 12-3 lead at the intermission. And little changed in the second half.
“Our defense is really playing well,” coach Cathy Reese said. “They’re sliding well. Everyone is filling their roles the way we need them to.”
The Terps defense held Dukes attacker Jaci Gordon, the team’s leading scorer, to only one goal.
Cummings scored about 90 seconds after halftime to push the Terps’ lead to 10, resulting in a running clock. They scored three more times before the Dukes scored their fourth goal.
Whittle finished with a game-high five goals while eight other Terps also scored at least once on the day.
“When we were all on the same page, our offense and defense, things were working well,” Mercer said. “Our offense really stepped it up.”
