No. 4 Maryland women’s lacrosse squanders lead, falls to No. 24 Penn State, 12-11
COLLEGE PARK — Entering Saturday, Maryland women’s lacrosse was vying for the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament. After Saturday, the Terps need help to avoid playing on the first day of it.
Armed with a four-goal halftime lead, No. 4 Maryland committed a glut of fouls that led to six free-position goals and lost whatever momentum it had built on offense en route to a 12-11 loss to No. 24 Penn State in a crucial Big Ten matchup before an announced 1,454 at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.
The setback dropped the Terps (11-4, 4-2 Big Ten) out of a potential first-place tie with No. 1 and reigning NCAA champion Northwestern (12-2, 4-1) and No. 6 Michigan (13-1, 3-1). If the Wolverines defeat No. 8 Johns Hopkins (10-4, 2-2) on Sunday and the Wildcats on April 21, Michigan would earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, and Northwestern would draw the No. 2 seed. Both teams would earn first-round byes to the semifinal round May 2.
Sitting in third place in the standings, Maryland must wait to see how the Wolverines and Nittany Lions (8-6, 3-2) finish the regular season to determine its seeding. But the team’s fate in the hands of others did not concern senior attacker Chrissy Thomas, who recorded three goals and one assist against Penn State.
“I think it’s going to drive our team further,” she said. “We’re going to make the adjustments. In the end, we’re going to come out stronger. We’re a very resilient group. So I believe in us.”
Maryland seemed poised to remain in contention for a top-two seed and a first-round bye after sprinting to a 6-1 advantage through 11 minutes of the first quarter and then a 7-3 lead by halftime.
But a defensive effort that had shut out the Nittany Lions for 11:41 in the opening period and the entire second quarter crumbled under the weight of 11 of 15 fouls in the second half that contributed to Penn State shooters getting rewarded with free-position opportunities from the 8-meter mark. Five of the Nittany Lions’ six goals in the third quarter came off free-position chances, including graduate student midfielder Meghan Murray’s goal with 1:25 left that gave Penn State its first lead, 9-8.
“Just talking through those plays, that’s all,” Terps redshirt sophomore defender Kennedy Major (Gerstell) said of the defense’s penchant for fouling. “We’re just missing that last piece, and we’ll get there. It’s just working together and making sure that we’re talking to one another, and I think we’ll keep them off the 8-meter next time [by] talking through it.”
Junior attacker Brooke Hoss’ free-position goal with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter — Penn State’s eighth in 11 attempts — ended up being the game-winner.
“We started moving the ball a little bit better,” said coach Missy Doherty, whose Nittany Lions entered the game leading the Big Ten in free-position percentage (.510). “We started spreading out their slides a little bit more so that we could see where the ball was coming from. And then we had players making plays. We were speeding up the ball and moving it so that we could catch them more off-guard with our dodging. And then shooting-wise, we were putting the ball away.”
Senior midfielder Kristin O’Neill, an Odenton native and Archbishop Spalding graduate, and senior attacker Gretchen Gilmore scored three goals each (including two free-position goals each) for Penn State. Junior midfielder Lauren Saltz, a Westminster native and graduate, and Murray each scored twice.
The Terps’ floundering on defense was matched by their rut on offense. The unit scored just once in the third quarter and couldn’t decipher Penn State freshman goalkeeper Sydney Manning, who made six of her game-high 11 saves in the second half.
“We had a lot better one-v-one defense, and our slides were a lot better,” Manning said. “We moved better as a unit. Overall, with the wind, it kind of made it hard to talk and hear everybody, but we made it work.”
Thomas praised Manning, but said the onus was on her and her teammates.
“We just had to be composed and finish those shots,” she said. “We had a lot of great looks. Our offense was just efficient in getting those looks. So we got it. We’ll work on it, and we’ll get there. We’ve got a lot of season left. So I believe in our offense to make those adjustments.”
In addition to Thomas, graduate student attacker Hannah Leubecker, a Forest Hill native, scored four goals, and senior attacker Eloise Clevenger, a Woodstock native and Marriotts Ridge graduate, added two goals and two assists. But Maryland connected on only 30.6% of its 36 shots for its second-lowest efficiency rate of the season, and that didn’t escape coach Cathy Reese’s attention.
“I think we had plenty of opportunities, and we didn’t finish them,” she said. “So I don’t know if it’s something that Penn State did. I’m giving them full credit, but I also think sometimes it’s finishing the play, finishing the opportunity, and for us to get 30-some shots and only score however many we scored, we need to be better.”
Regular-season finale
No. 4 Maryland at No. 17 Princeton
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Stream: ESPN+