The Terrapins women’s lacrosse team knew it was in for a challenge Saturday as it faced No. 2 North Carolina on the road. If that did not sink in before the opening whistle, it sure did early in the second half.
Trailing the Tar Heels 11-5 with 23 minutes remaining, the No. 5 Terps were up against a wall. If there existed any chance of still contending for the ACC regular-season title, they had to close the gap of their largest deficit of the entire season.
The next 10 minutes saw four consecutive Terps goals, but even that wasn’t enough. The Tar Heels regained momentum soon after, claiming the rivalry game and the conference title with a 14-11 win.
To be sure, the Terps (11-3, 2-2 ACC) did not start the game on the right foot. North Carolina (13-1, 5-0) controlled the first five minutes with the help of midfielder Kara Cannizzaro, who scored the first three of her eventual five goals to put the Tar Heels up 3-0 early. Attacker Karri Ellen Johnson put the brakes to the Tar Heels’ run with the 219th goal of her career, giving her sole possession of second place in program history.
After midfielder Katie Schwarzmann added another less than a minute later, though, the Terps were hard-pressed to stop their hosts for the remainder of the first half. North Carolina got six more goals before the break, including back-to-back free-position shots against Terps goalie Brittany Dipper.
Despite their poor first-half performance, the Terps woke up when they hit the field once again. After another Tar Heels score from attacker/midfielder Abbey Friend (four goals) extended the lead to 10-4, the Terps broke out and scored five of the next six goals to place the ACC regular-season title up for grabs. But North Carolina limited the Terps to just two goals in the last 14 minutes of the game, ending their comeback bid.
“I thought we came out hard in the second half and really stepped up the pace of our attack,” coach Cathy Reese said.
Although the loss stopped the Terps’ six-game winning streak in its tracks – and gave the team its most regular-season defeats since 2008 – it wasn’t a lost afternoon, by any stretch. Compared to their first two losses against No. 8 Duke and No. 3 Syracuse, the Terps managed to put on a strong showing in the second half. They outscored the Tar Heels 7-5 after halftime and had more scoring opportunities, as well. They also won twice as many draw controls as North Carolina in the entire game.
Schwarzmann, meanwhile, notched another hat trick, her 10th of the season. Alex Aust, who was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week, did not slow down her hot streak, either. The attacker tallied three goals and two assists.
What ultimately spelled their doom, however, was the 15-8 turnover disparity, as well as the mere eight shots they put on net in the first half. With two games remaining in the regular season, both against unranked teams, the Terps know they can start stronger.
“I think our team has the opportunity to take a lot from this game as we move forward to our next two matches and then the ACC Tournament,” Reese said.
munson@umdbk.com
