It’s difficult to steal a game from the defending national champion field hockey team with only two shots.

The University of Delaware learned that lesson the hard way yesterday, as the No. 1-ranked Terrapins’ smothering defensive hustle propelled them to a 3-0 victory at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex. It was the Terps’ seventh straight win of the season.

After a sub-par performance versus Temple Saturday, the Terps rebounded to rout Northwestern and continued their upward trend yesterday, heading into ACC play this weekend.

“One of the things we have been really focusing on is just playing our flow and starting out really strong, which I think we did today,” coach Missy Meharg said. “It would be nice to pop a few more in there, but the reality in hockey is all you need is one.”

That one came 11 minutes, 14 seconds into the game, when freshman forward Nicole Murraco netted her team-leading fifth goal of the season off a crisp pass from junior midfielder Janneke van Leeuwen.

Sisters Ameliet and Berber Richen both added their first goals of the season to help the Terps beat Delaware for the eighth straight time since 1999.

“I thought she played a really solid game offensively, defensively and in terms of her finishing on that penalty corner,” Meharg said of the older Richen, Berber, who transferred from Kent State this season for her final year. “I’m really pleased with her seniority. For her to play like she did today I think she grew tremendously, and that’s a really big bonus for us.”

The Terps held Delaware to only one shot in each half, which senior back Kristina Edmonds said was thanks to a much-improved team defense compared to Saturday’s mediocre performance against Temple.

The Blue Hens finally earned quality opportunities on two penalty corners late in the second half, but were unable to muster a single shot on either attempt.

“We’re used to playing with each other,” Edmonds said of her defensive unit. “Every game provides a new opportunity to get better and stronger in the back, and I think we did that today.”

Edmonds also said that surrendering penalty corners will prove beneficial to the team in the coming ACC games.

“We conditioned ourselves,” she said. “The more we get to do these things, then in bigger games we’ll be more confident.”

Contact reporter Geremy Bass at geremybass@gmail.com.