Midfielder/Defender Jen Mendez moves through Boston defenders during the Terps’ 18-8 victory Feb. 19, 2014 at College Park

The Terrapins women’s lacrosse team jumped out to big leads in three of its first four games, allowing coach Cathy Reese to give her freshmen experience while cruising to blowout wins.

A below-freezing night in Hempstead, N.Y., however, did not provide ideal conditions for the No. 2 Terps to continue that trend. In a 14-3 win over Hofstra on Tuesday, the Terps (5-0) struggled to get the offense going early, scoring one goal in the first 20 minutes of play.

“It’s not an excuse; it’s really cold here today, and it was something we needed to overcome,” Reese said. “We were dropping passes and just kind of a little bit out of rhythm for a lot of the first half.”

Though they secured some good looks at the goal in the first half, outshooting Hofstra 15-9, the Terps struggled to capitalize on early opportunities. The team, which entered the game netting 48 percent of its shots, shot 26.7 percent in the first half.

After warming up at halftime, the Terps managed to beat Pride goalkeeper Kelsey Gregerson 10 times on 17 shots in the second period. The Terps’ offensive outburst in the second half helped the team tie its largest margin of victory this season.

“I don’t know whether we were taking weak shots or making poor choices,” Reese said of her team’s first-half performance. “But we definitely did a much better job in the second half.”

In a convincing victory at then-No. 7 Penn State on Saturday, the team turned the ball over 16 times, then a season high. Reese said the Terps were careless in the midfield, and they needed to do a better job protecting their sticks.

The Terps had 16 turnovers Tuesday in the chilly conditions, but Reese wasn’t as concerned with those mistakes.

“We were getting openings,” Reese said. “Some of them we were just dropping balls we don’t usually drop, which is why I don’t know if it was weather-related.”

Reese planned on starting freshman goalkeeper Emily Kift in the second half, but because of the cold weather, she stuck with Abbey Clipp, who was already warm after starting the game. The redshirt junior stopped two of the three shots on goal in the first half as the Terps held a 4-1 lead, and she made three more saves in the second period.

Reese said it was difficult to bring players into the game because they were wearing so many layers. However, she managed to bring 13 players off the bench once the Terps’ lead ballooned in the second half.

Among the players entering late in the game was midfielder/defender Jen Mendez. The senior notched her first goal of the season with 15:53 remaining to initiate a running clock and scored again with just more than two minutes remaining to cap the scoring for the Terps.

Six of the team’s 10 freshmen saw playing time Tuesday, more than in the matchup with the Nittany Lions, but still less than in the team’s first three games.

While the Terps may not have been able to use Tuesday’s matchup to fine tune certain aspects of their game or give extra playing time to the freshmen, Reese believes playing on a bitter February night in New York provided her team with a unique opportunity.

“We need to be able to play through whatever situations are thrown at us,” Reese said. “So I think that is a lesson we needed to learn.”