Hope Rose ran downfield, moving the ball in open space into the circle. Once an Indiana defender reached her, she dumped it to Julianna Tornetta, who took a shot that was tipped in by Taylor Mason.
As Mason’s shot fell, No. 9 Maryland field hockey celebrated its fifth goal of the match — a game-high for this season. And it was only the second quarter.
This early onslaught powered the Terps to a dominant 8-2 win over Indiana on the Hoosiers’ new field in Bloomington. It was Maryland’s biggest win since 2019.
And yet, Indiana earned nine penalty corners against Maryland’s one. It outshot the Terps, 17-13. But Maryland spread the wealth, as nine different players registered points in an impressive team effort.
“If we’re gonna score goals, we’re gonna score ‘em,” coach Missy Meharg said. “Why wait to score them on penalty corners?”
But it was actually the Hoosiers who drew first blood.
About three-and-a-half minutes in, Indiana’s Jemima Cookson collected her first goal of the season, and the Hoosiers took a 1-0 lead.
[Maryland field hockey wants to perfect its game as Indiana looms]
“A lot of our issues are caused by 2-v-1s, some are self-made,” goalkeeper Noelle Frost said. “We need to organize better, step up sooner and force the outside just a lot quicker.”
A few minutes later, Maryland got its offense going — more than it has all season.
Anna Castaldo moved through traffic and fed the ball out to Kyler Greenwalt. The Terps’ vice captain smacked it into the cage, knotting the match at one.
And it was far from done. Rose brought it downfield like she did to set up Mason’s shot and Maryland’s fifth goal. But this time, she turned around once she got into the circle and had defenders in front of her, creating some open space.
Rose spun and rifled a backhanded shot. And it hit, pushing the Terps ahead, 2-1.
Maryland kept rolling from there. After a series of passes on the perimeter of the circle off a penalty corner insertion, Tornetta fired her fourth goal of the season.
They weren’t done. Margot Lawn scored off an assist from Mayv Clune — she registered Maryland’s fourth goal over a five-minute span.
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After those four quick unanswered goals, the Terps continued their offensive dominance, with Mason’s score giving them a 5-1 advantage they’d hang onto until halftime.
“For Indiana’s goalkeepers, they got pummeled with great shots. It wasn’t like the goaltending was horrible,” Meharg said. “It was just a matter of really good shot selection and really good players.”
Out of the break, Meharg pulled Frost for Christina Calandra, who continues to see more action this year.
Early in the half, Indiana’s Kennedy Reardon sent a shot past Calandra, cutting the Terps’ lead to 5-2.
At this point, it was only a matter of time before Bibi Donraadt, Maryland’s leading goal-scorer, joined the party. And she did, flipping a high shot into the upper section of the cage early in the third.
Later on, Greenwalt intercepted a pass in Indiana’s backfield. Castaldo handled the rebound and scored the Terps’ seventh goal.
And early in the fourth, Rose continued her incredible offensive performance. Emma DeBerdine made a strong run downfield and sent a hard pass to Rose, who turned in her second goal of the day. Maryland took an 8-2 lead and swiftly defeated its second conference opponent.
“The second goal that I had, Emma dribbled it to create a tricky one with the defender,” Rose said. “Just passing it around them worked.”
