My take—Taylor Cummings, Megan Whittle and Brooke Griffin might just be the most potent offensive trio in the history of the sport.
Maryland top ranked women’s lacrosse team made the short trip up I-95 to take on the 17th ranked Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. It was a game that could start a budding rivalry. Maryland coach Cathy Reese described it as “a rivalry we haven’t had. Our girls were fired up today. It was an exciting rivalry to kind of renew and get back out here and hopefully continue.”
The Terps grabbed control early and never let go rolling to a 17-9 win. The Terps improve to 15-0 on the season and have now won 25 consecutive games dating back to their last loss on April 5, 2014.
FIRST HALF
Maryland didn’t need much time to jump in front. The opening draw popped right into Brooke Griffin’s crosse and 52 seconds later, Taylor Cummings found an open spot in the Blue Jays defense and Kelly McPartland spotted her resulting in an early 1-0 lead. The second draw went in the opposite direction but right to Casey Pepperman. The Terps needed just 18 seconds Cummings to find Brooke Griffin and propel Maryland to a 2-0 lead.
Reese said after the game, “I thought we came out strong and that was something we had talked about pregame. We wanted to make sure that we came out firing. Came out attacking. Possessions were going to be key to our success tonight.”
Cummings scored her second of the game rebounding her miss. Hopkins finally got on the board after a Terrapins turnover but Maryland responded with two more goals. Zoe Stukenberg finished a face dodge from the right alley with a laser that probably looked like a bb to JHU goalie KC Emerson. Kelly McPartland joined the party scoring on a free position with 18 minutes to play and opening a 5-1 Maryland lead.
For the balance of the half, the Blue Jays played about as well as they could. They would score three more times. Unfortunately for the home faithful, Maryland scored four times including a back breaking goal by Zoe Stukenberg just before the clock expired.
“Any time you can end a half on a fast break like that on a 16 second run at the end, I think that’s awesome,” Cummings said. “We like to play fast. We like to push the tempo and our defenders are really good at pushing the ball out of the defensive end and into the offensive zone.”
It wasn’t simply the timing of the goal that made it devastating but the situation. Hopkins had scored with under a minute to play and won only their third draw of the 13 in the half. However, Megan Douty, caused a turnover with 15.7 seconds on the clock and Stukenberg’s strong dodge through the teeth of JHU’s defense resulted in a bouncer that put Maryland up by five as the clock expired.
In addition to the 10-3 edge in draws of which Cummings had five, the Terps held a 21-9 edge in shots and a 10-4 margin in ground balls. The Terps had a 9-4 lead at the break against a team that was conceding just over six goals per game and had built that margin without a goal from leading scorer Megan Whittle.
SECOND HALF
Hopkins didn’t let Stukenberg’s late goal affect their effort. The Terps won the opening draw if the second half but the Blue Jays scored the first goal. Of course, Maryland had an immediate two goal response finding the cage twice in the space of 1:18 on the game clock.
Whittle may have been shut out in the first half but she put Maryland’s first and third goals on the board in the second. The first came on a typical Whittle dodge and the third on a free position. The two goals sandwiched score by Erin Collins with McPartland picking up the assist.
A change in goal seemed to pay a brief dividend for Johns Hopkins. Caroline Frederico made back to back saves on shots by Cummings and the Blue Jays responded with a score that cut Maryland’s lead to 12-6.
Cummings used just 10 seconds to respond. The junior controlled the draw and, in a fashion familiar to Terps fans, took the ball downfield and completed her hat trick. Again, the Blue Jays responded scoring a minute later to pull them within 13-7.
Following a Hopkins turnover, Stukenberg joined Griffin (who had four first half goals) and Cummings in the hat trick club doubling up the score at 14-7. Later in the half, Whittle would score again making it the eighth time this season she has put up a hat trick. Griffin added a fifth and Cummings a fourth that opened the Terps’ lead to 17-8.
The Blue Jays picked up a final goal with just under three minutes remaining that resembled a field hockey goal. Chaos in front of the Maryland net resulted in a score that was initially ruled an own goal but was eventually credited to CeCe Finney and a 17-9 final.
As a team, Maryland out shot Hopkins 36-21, had a 15-11 edge in ground balls and a 20-7 draw control advantage. Individually, Griffin led Maryland with five goals. Cummings tallied four and Stukenberg and Whittle added three apiece. Cummings finished with 11 draw controls giving her a plus four margin over JHU as a team.
The Terps return to College Park beginning Saturday when they host Michigan before closing the season by hosting Penn State in a game that could determine the Big Ten Championship.
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