Ten minutes into the Maryland women’s lacrosse team’s game Saturday, the No. 2 Terps were tied at two with William & Mary. Despite recording an undefeated regular season in 2016 with a high-powered offense, midfielder Jen Giles said they needed some time to “get the jitters out” in this campaign’s opener.
“Once we started playing with each other and finding each other on the field,” Giles said, “everything started going our way.”
Maryland rattled off 10 unanswered goals to take a commanding lead in their 13-3 victory. The afternoon’s contributions came from a diverse cast, as five attackers and five midfielders scored with no player hitting the back of the net more than twice.
“That’s a testament to how we want to play this year, with everyone being dangerous,” said midfielder Zoe Stukenberg, who scored once. “Whether you’re coming off the bench or you’re an attacker or midfielder, we want everyone to be dangerous.”
[Read more: Maryland women’s lacrosse blew out William & Mary, 13-3, to start its season]
Coach Cathy Reese doesn’t want to rely on focal players.
So when last season’s leading scorer, junior attacker Megan Whittle, netted only one goal against the Tribe, the Terps didn’t flinch.
“That’s definitely huge for future games,” Giles said. “Just being so dynamic and making sure that other teams can’t just lock off one of our players, and all of us can contribute and play together.”
Along with Whittle and Stukenberg, attackers Caroline Steele and Taylor Hensh and midfielders Lizzie Colson, Kali Hartshorn and Hannah Warther each scored once. Giles and attackers Caroline Wannen and Kacie Longo paced with two apiece.
“We’ve got a really dynamic offense, one that was really sharing the ball well, and people were finding opportunities,” Reese said. “It was nice for us to have a really balanced offense that’s going to be able to attack from anywhere on the field.”
Reese admitted 13 saves from William & Mary goalkeeper Alex Lista limited the Terps’ production. So did tough luck with accuracy. She said her offense hit “maybe nine pipes” Saturday.
Despite the missed opportunities, Stukenberg felt encouraged with the Terps’ scoring variety.
“Everyone was taking good shots and working really well together,” Stukenberg said. “That makes us hard to defend moving into the future. When you have 10 people scoring, that’s pretty awesome.”