Terrapins women’s lacrosse midfielder Taylor Cummings did not want to make it personal.
The two-time Tewaaraton award winner has only lost three games in her career with the No. 1 Terps, two of which have come to North Carolina.
But as Cummings’ squad prepared to face the No. 5 Tar Heels, she said she focused solely on helping the Terps grow as a unit. Their effort proved good enough Saturday, as the Terps defeated North Carolina, 8-7, in a rematch of last season’s national championship game.
“We knew going into the game it was going to be like this,” defender Alice Mercer said. “We knew it was going to be a hard fought game until the end and it always is with Carolina.”
After the Terps lost a three-goal halftime lead, attacker Megan Whittle split two defenders and scored with 3:31 remaining in regulation to give the Terps a one-goal edge they wouldn’t surrender.
Coach Cathy Reese was pleased with Whittle’s ability to capitalize on the few opportunities the Terps had offensively.
“Whittle shot really well today, she was finding good looks and sticking it,” Reese said. “Taylor was organizing us on offense a little bit.”
Despite seven first-half turnovers, the Terps were able to take a 4-1 lead at intermission. Still, the Tar Heels responded.
They came out fast to open the second half, winning the draw control before attacker Sammy Jo Tracy scored under a minute into the period.
Whittle was able to score and keep the Terps’ lead at three, but it would not stay way for long.
Attacker Ally Messinger made a free position shot and Tracy scored again less than a minute later as the Tar Heels went on a 3-0 run seven minutes into the second half.
“They were fast and aggressive like we knew they were going to be,” Mercer said. “I’m glad we got to have that test early in the season.”
Whittle and attacker Olivia Ferrucci traded goals to tie the game at seven before Whittle’s go-ahead score.
“We had a great week of practice and were really looking forward to playing Carolina,” Whittle said. “But we really wanted to keep the attention on us.”
Cummings, who ended the game with a pair of draw control victories, led the Terps’ offensive attack in the first half.
At the 24:41 mark, Cummings cut into the eight-meter area and gave the Terps their first lead of the afternoon. With just over 16 minutes remaining in the first period, she pushed the Terps’ edge to two.
The Tar Heels attempted to control the tempo of the first half, but Taylor did not allow it. North Carolina took seven shots in the first period, and Taylor saved six.
Taylor spent the entire game in goal, tallying eight saves.
“It was quite a defensive battle on both sides,” Reese said. “Carolina’s defense played really well, made it hard for us to find easy looks on goal.”
The Terps’ offense was shut down for a large portion of the second half as a result of solid defense from Tar Heels goalkeeper Caylee Waters, who ended the afternoon with 13 saves.
But their attack did enough to come away with the tight victory.
“The game was a little back and forth,” Whittle said. “We could have picked up a few more ground balls, could have done a few other things. But at the end of the day we were strong enough to pull out the win.”
