Though the Maryland women’s lacrosse team returned significant experience on its defensive unit this season, it lost National Defender of the Year Nadine Hadnagy and needed time to mesh as a group, coach Cathy Reese said.

Early on, that showed. The Terps allowed 11.67 goals per game in the first six games, holding just one of those opponents to fewer than 10 goals.

But the Terps have jelled since then, holding opposing offenses to single-digit goals in four of their past five games, including a 16-9 win at Michigan on Saturday.

“We’re really starting to get in a groove here,” Reese said. “We’re learning each other’s tendencies and what our strengths are, and when we can put all those pieces together, we become very successful.”

[Read more: Three hat tricks power Maryland women’s lacrosse’s 16-9 win vs. Michigan]

Maryland has allowed an average of 7.6 goals in its past five games. Its low point was a 15-12 win over then-No. 3 James Madison on March 24.

[Read more: Lizzie Colson hardly played last season. Now, she stars for Maryland lacrosse’s defense.]

Defender Lizzie Colson said the team focuses on communicating with each other, talking through picks, working on one-on-one defense and filling in on slides.

Maryland has also continued to improve in the draw control circle and on limiting turnovers, which has allowed the defense to stay more organized.

“I think in earlier games we were kind of careless with the ball, we were just kind of going through the motions,” Colson said. “Now we’re really focused on executing every play and focusing on the turnovers and limiting those so we have more opportunities for our offense and less opportunities to obviously get scored on.”

Reese said Colson and defender Kathy Rudkin have impressed her as of late. Colson played in 20 games last season but started just three, while Rudkin is in her first year at Maryland after being a stalwart in Syracuse’s defense.

Colson has 38 draw controls, 25 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers this season. She earned seven draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers against Michigan.

Rudkin’s contributions are less obvious on the stat sheet, but Reese said she’s displayed standout one-on-one defending.

Reese also gave credit to assistant coach Lauri Kenis for putting together effective strategies entering each game.

“Defense is really about executing our game plan,” Reese said. “Our coaching staff puts a lot of time … preparing our defense, what we’re going to see from teams’ offenses.”

Maryland’s recent improvement has brought its defensive ranking up to No. 20 in the nation, at 9.9 goals per game overall. Though it lags far behind its second-ranked offense, the Terps are happy with the strides their defense has made and where it can go in the future.

“Overall our defense is steadily improving, and that’s what we want with a team like this,” attacker Megan Whittle said. “Our defense has been playing really well and I’m proud of the way that everyone’s showing up and bringing everything.”