Maryland women’s lacrosse primed for No. 1 ranking after beating Rutgers, 13-8

The Terps saw an early five-goal lead shrink, but still pulled away late.

Come Monday, Maryland women’s lacrosse will be back on top of the sport’s rankings for the first time in over four years. The Terps held off a valiant push by Rutgers on Sunday to win, 13-8, and are set to overtake No. 1 Northwestern after the Wildcats suffered a loss at Penn State on Friday.

“We have a whole other level we haven’t reached yet,” Maryland head coach Cathy Reese said. “We need to have a level of consistency in order to, you know, keep getting better this season.”

In the game’s opening minutes, it looked like Maryland (9-1, 2-0 Big Ten) was going to cruise to a comfortable victory. The Terps scored three goals in the opening five minutes — two from Libby May — forcing the Scarlet Knights (5-5, 0-3) to call a timeout before they ever had control of the ball.

While Rutgers began to settle in, it had no answer for Maryland’s early efficiency. The Terps scored six first-quarter goals on nine shots.

Meanwhile, Emily Sterling stonewalled four of the Scarlet Knights’ first five attempts on goal. Sterling finished the afternoon with eight stops.

But in the second quarter, the tide began to change after a smart strategic change by Rutgers, which shifted to a man defense. Maryland generated just three shots in the second frame, ultimately enduring a scoring drought of almost 20 minutes.

“We struggled a little bit in the second when [Rutgers] shifted defenses,” Reese said. “Thought our decision making wasn’t great.”

Offensively, the Scarlet Knights looked more poised, scoring twice on four shots on goal to cut their deficit to three headed into the break. However, both teams committed four turnovers in the frame, and a couple of tremendous clears from Kennedy Major allowed the Terps to take back possession and weather the storm.

Rutgers also won the majority of draws in the second period, a stark distinction from the other three frames in which Maryland — led by Shaylan Ahearn’s eight controls — dominated in the center circle with 17 controls to Rutgers’ seven.

The Terps also failed to convert on all eight free positions in the opening half.

Hannah Leubecker secured her third consecutive hat trick goal less than 2:30 into the second half to bring Maryland’s lead back up to four goals, but the Scarlet Knights wouldn’t go away.

Rutgers star attacker Cassidy Spilis had her fingerprints all over Sunday’s game, and took over in the third quarter to the tune of her third, fourth and fifth goals of the game — the last coming with just 1.7 seconds left in the period to cut Maryland’s lead to 10-7.

But when the fourth quarter commenced, the prowess shifted back to Maryland’s star, as Leubecker, who scored a fourth goal during Spills’ third-quarter rampage, netted two more to give the Terps a four-goal cushion with 10:20 to play.

“We made some adjustments in the third quarter, and in the fourth, we had a lot better looks on goal,” Reese added.

With that cushion, the Terps regained to dictate the play similar to as what they did in the opening 15 minutes. They commanded the center circle, recorded five more shots on goal and iced the victory with 3:03 left when May scored her third goal of the game.

“I think we’re really starting to build our chemistry,” Leubecker said. “We know what each other’s strengths are and we’re playing off those strengths.”

Three things to know

1. There will be a new No. 1. With top-ranked Northwestern (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten) losing earlier in the week, Maryland will take over the top spot for the first time since Feb. 15, 2020.

“None of that matters,” Reese said. “What we’ve really done as a team is just focus on the game in front of us and that’s it. We can’t control what anyone else is gonna say about us or anything like that.”

2. Maryland dominated the opening period. The Terps got out to a near-perfect start, converting on three of their first four shifts and getting out to a five-goal advantage heading into the second quarter. Over the next two quarters, Rutgers outscored the Terps, 6-4, proving the importance of a fast start.

3. The Terps fought through a long scoring drought. Maryland went the entire second quarter without a goal, but its defense held strong, never allowing its lead to become less than two.

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