Syracuse and Florida attempted to limit the damage star Terrapins women’s lacrosse midfielder Taylor Cummings and attacker Megan Whittle could do offensively in previous games.
Even though they limited the pair’s production, it didn’t lead to wins.
Still, No. 14 Penn used the same strategy Wednesday night. But the Quakers weren’t successful, either, as the duo combined for eight goals to lead the Terps to a 12-8 victory at Franklin Field.
The win marked the Terps’ third straight victory on the road against a ranked team.
“[The road trip] has forced us to be uncomfortable,” Cummings said. “I’m very proud of our team for pushing through the last 10 or 15 minutes and coming out with a victory over a very good Penn team.”
Cummings said the Terps did a good job of “moving for each other off [the] ball,” which she added was not “a big strength for us” in the 14-4 victory over Florida.
Whittle, who scored four times against the Quakers when the teams met in College Park last season, split a pair of defenders to score the Terps’ first goal 90 seconds into the game.
Less than 20 seconds later, Cummings did the same to push the Terps’ advantage to two.
Cummings and Whittle combined for five of the Terps’ eight first half goals. And neither backed down in the second half, even after taking an 8-2 lead into the locker room.
“It was great to have them score a combined eight goals, and we needed that out of them,” midfielder Zoe Stukenberg said. “They’re always there for us when we need them to put the ball in the back of the net.”
After midfielder Caroline Steele opened the second half with a quick goal, Cummings out-hustled a pair of Quaker defenders and scored. Then Whittle scored consecutive goals, the second of which pushed the team’s lead to 10, shortly after.
But the Quakers, who average just more than 10 goals per game entering the contest, climbed back into the game.
Penn midfielder Lely DeSimone scored and ended an 8-0 Terps run about halfway through the second half. Midfielder Alex Condon and attacker Caroline Cummings also scored to spark a 6-0 Quakers run.
Although the Quakers didn’t have much time complete the comeback in the second half, coach Cathy Reese was quick to take a timeout as Penn rallied.
“We were off to a good start but just kind of took our foot off the gas in the second half,” Reese said. “We gave up a couple of goals for being lazy.”
The Terps only turned the ball over three times in the second half and took twice as many shots in the whole game as the Quakers, but Stukenberg, who ended the game with a goal and three draw control victories, said the squad got complacent after such a fast start.
“Whenever a team goes on a late run like that, you walk of the field kind of feeling like you didn’t win,” Stukenberg said.
Steele, and midfielders Taylor Hensh and Kacie Longo each recorded goals for the Terps, who scooped up 15 ground balls to the Quakers’ 16.
The Quakers spurt came too late though. It wasn’t enough for Penn to overcome Whittle and Cummings, who had helped give the Terps a 12-2 advantage.
After the duo was contained in the first two contests of the three-game road trip, the Terps’ two biggest offensive threats carried them to a seventh straight win to start the campaign.
