By Zachary Intrater
No. 11 Maryland women’s lacrosse was in unfamiliar territory heading into Wednesday’s bout against William & Mary. The Terps had just suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since their 2021 campaign and were looking to bounce back at home in College Park.
Maryland responded with an offensive masterclass. Coach Cathy Reese’s squad blew past an outmatched William & Mary squad with a 22-4 victory, halting the team’s rare skid with an impressive midweek outing. Eleven different Terps scored goals in the win.
William & Mary struck first, taking the lead only 47 seconds into the game. But Maryland responded fast with a pair of Libby May goals — a common sight for the Terps this season. The first of the two scores was assisted by graduate student Abby Bosco, which gave the star defender her first point of the season.
Bosco made her presence felt on the defensive end as well, snagging three ground balls and causing two turnovers in the first quarter alone.
The Terps were able to take advantage of William & Mary’s early fouling. Maryland converted on five free positions in the first quarter, an area in which the Terps have struggled so far this season.
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One of the free position goals came from freshman midfielder Kori Edmondson, who was making her first career start. Edmondson briefly left the game in the second quarter with an injury, but came back shortly after and notched her second goal of the game.
Edmondson was not the only Terp who made noise in the second quarter — it was a dominant period for the team on both ends. After giving up three goals in the first quarter, the Terps shut out William & Mary in the second quarter while picking up seven goals of their own.
“To have as many different scorers as we had and as many different assisters as we had, I thought that really showed how well balanced [we are] and the potential that our offense has,” coach Cathy Reese said.
The second half started with more Maryland dominance. Edmondson picked up her third goal of the game only 44 seconds into the half, giving the former top recruit her second consecutive hat trick. She wasn’t finished, scoring again less than two minutes later for her career-high fourth goal of the game.
[Kori Edmondson flashed her potential in stellar outing for Maryland women’s lacrosse]
The Terps’ dominant performance resulted in multiple breakout games from their young players. Freshman midfielder Maddy Sterling and sophomore midfielder Natalie Pansini were both able to record their first career goals, while freshman midfielder Emma Muchnick had a career-high four goals.
“It felt amazing. Just looking around at my teammates and seeing them all smile when I had a good moment but also when everybody had a good moment, I think that really pushed our momentum for the entire game,” Muchnick said.
The Terps racked up over double the shots, shots on goal and draw controls as William & Mary, with less than half the number of fouls committed. Maryland also caused 13 turnovers, a season-high for the team.
“It’s nice to see these freshmen getting on the field and competing. I think it’s a really strong class and I think the future of Maryland lacrosse is bright,” Reese said. “The more we get these guys going, the more contributions they’re gonna make as the season goes on.”
