Nine minutes into the Maryland women’s lacrosse team’s game against Northwestern on Thursday night, midfielder Jen Giles left with an injury.
Giles is a key member of the Terps’ offense, registering the team’s second-most assists and fourth-highest point total. She often plays every minute and has forced 10 turnovers this season.
But the Terps maintained their composure through the setback to earn an 18-9 victory and the Big Ten regular-season title in Evanston, Illinois. Maryland has maintained a “next play” mantra all season, helping it overcome Giles’ injury and clinch its third straight undefeated regular season.
“Focusing on that moment, the next play ahead of that and taking things one at a time,” coach Cathy Reese said. “The group [Thursday] did a really good job of doing that. They didn’t retaliate to a lot of fouls and held their own really well.”
[Read more: Maryland women’s lacrosse completes undefeated regular season with 18-9 win over Northwestern]
Early in the game, Maryland (17-0, 6-0 Big Ten) overcame self-inflicted ball-control issues. The Terps lost the opening four draws and turned the ball over four times, leading to a 2-1 deficit midway through the first half.
Then, Maryland dealt with the loss of Giles.
Her absence could have negatively impacted the Terps, especially with the Wildcats tightly marking Maryland’s leading scorer, attacker Megan Whittle. Instead, Maryland managed at least 16 goals for the ninth consecutive game this season, thanks in part to attacker Caroline Steele’s six-goal effort.
“We have so many weapons on our team and I feel like, at any given moment, any given day, anybody can step up,” Steele said. “We just had a lot of good connections and I was thankfully finishing.”
Still, Maryland’s draw control problem persisted, as the Wildcats (9-8, 4-2 Big Ten) bested the Terps, 12-2, on the circle after the first half. Northwestern finished with a 19-10 advantage on draw controls.
However, the Terps never let the Wildcats score more than two consecutive goals, mitigating the harm of the draw futility.
“It was a total team effort,” Steele said. “We just went out there and did our classic routine. We were all feeling really good and just wanted to win.”
As it did in previous contests, Maryland responded to early adversity and recovered against Northwestern to earn a comfortable win. This time, the team’s turnaround cemented an unbeaten season and conference championship.
“We want to make sure that we’re sticking to playing our game and playing our brand of lacrosse,” Reese said. “It’s something we talk about a fair bit and then taking care of things one thing at a time and seeing what we can do out there.”
