After a rare letdown last weekend against No. 3 Duke, the Terrapins women’s lacrosse team used its games against No. 6 Virginia and Hofstra to show it had moved on.

The No. 4 Terps withstood a second-half rally from the Cavaliers on Friday to capture a 12-9 victory that extended their home winning streak to 36, the fifth-best in all Division I sports. The team didn’t slack off at Hofstra on Sunday either, shutting out the Pride in the second half en route to an 11-4 win.

“We’ve been waiting for this game all week,” attacker Karri Ellen Johnson said of their bout with Virginia. “We just wanted to play again after Duke, and we definitely didn’t show our best performance at Duke. So to win here on our home field with big ACC rivals, it’s big for us.”

Playing against their highest-ranked home opponent of the season, midfielder Kelly McPartland and Johnson overcame rainy conditions to net two unassisted goals within the game’s first 10 minutes. Those two, as well as midfielder Katie Schwarzmann, all got hat tricks in the game. Schwarzmann added another hat trick against Hofstra two days later.

“I owe [my hat trick] to the offense,” Johnson said. “Anyone can score on our team, which is awesome. We’re all powerful weapons.”

And the Terps’ offense wasn’t the only unit putting on a show Friday. The team’s defense held the Cavaliers (3-2, 0-1) without a shot for the first 14 minutes of the game. When Virginia did get the ball, it struggled to find a hole in the Terps’ defense. The Cavaliers had 10 turnovers in the first half, compared to four for the Terps.

The home team entered halftime with a 5-2 advantage but not without a little bit of controversy first.

With the Terps nursing a 2-1 lead and about eight minutes remaining in the half, Virginia attacker Charlie Finnigan scored the game-tying goal. The goal was disallowed minutes later, though, after referees ruled that Cavaliers midfielder Morgan Stephens had jumped into the action before her penalty had actually expired. Virginia coach Julie Myers was then handed a yellow card, forcing a two-minute non-releasable penalty, after arguing the call.

The Terps responded by scoring three of the four remaining first-half goals.

“There was a lot going on, and a lot of different factors that were going on out there,” coach Cathy Reese said. “But ultimately we just want our girls to stay focused no matter what happens, and recognize that the only thing we can control is how we play on the field. That’s what we stay true to.”

The Terps’ dominance continued into the second half. After scoring two quick goals in the latter half to extend their lead to 7-2, the Cavaliers rolled off a 5-1 run that nearly silenced the packed crowd at Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

To stifle their momentum, Reese did something she doesn’t normally try. Maintaining possession in Virginia territory, Schwarzmann and the rest of the Terps held the ball for nearly five minutes.

“I was really pleased with the way we did that,” Reese said. “That’s not something that we typically do, and I just wanted us to be able to stay mentally checked in when we do have the ball that long on offense … we just wanted to make sure that we made that possession count, and they did a good job of that.”

Any fears of that plan backfiring were squashed quickly. McPartland, Schwarzmann and attacker Alex Aust reeled off the next three goals, all but securing the Terps’ eventual three-goal win.

“I definitely think when Virginia clawed back, we had to do the little things,” Johnson said. “Getting the draw controls, groundballs, and all those things started to add up.”

Before the game, Reese emphasized the importance of winning draw controls. After getting too few possessions in the second half against Duke to give them a chance at a comeback, the Terps won 10 of 15 draw controls in the second half against Virginia.

“The draw control advantage was huge because every possession in a game like this is huge,” Reese said. “Learning off the Duke loss, we needed to capitalize on our opportunities. We needed to step it up in this game.”

After a weekend that included two critical wins, it’s safe to say the Terps did just that.

munson@umdbk.com