By Todd Carton
To paraphrase the classic Dinah Washington song, what a diff’rence a week makes. A week ago Saturday, the Maryland men’s basketball team was run out of Xfinity Center by Michigan. Army won its second straight over the Terps baseball squad. The women’s lacrosse team lost its first regular season game in more than three seasons at North Carolina. Softball lost a pair of games and even the Terrapins up and coming tennis team lost at home to VCU. Today, in a complete turnaround, Maryland’s sports teams helped erase all those memories.
Let’s start at Maryland Stadium where the men’s lacrosse team remained unbeaten for the young season by registering a 12-10 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It was the first time Maryland registered a win over the Irish since 2014. The Terps were led by an astonishing 10 point (3 goals / 7 assists) effort from Connor Kelly and the possible emergence of a star at the faceoff dot where freshman Justin Shockey won 15 of his 22 faceoffs. The Terps scored twice to open the game and though Notre Dame tied the score at two, Maryland never trailed. The Terps host top ranked Albany on Saturday March 9.
Across campus, the Maryland women’s lacrosse team faced off against Hofstra. It was the Terrapins second game of the week and they cruised to a comfortable 17-10 win over the Pride. Megan Whittle led Maryland with five goals but had ample support from Jen Giles and Brindi Griffin who each registered a hat trick. Whittle’s fifth score moved her past Taylor Cummings and into second place on Maryland’s all-time career goals scored list. She now trails only the incomparable Jen Adams. The Terps improved to 4-1 for the season and will take to the road for three straight before returning to College Park on March 24th.
In South Carolina, the Terps baseball team continued its hot play picking up a 7-6 win over 2016 national champs Coastal Carolina on their home field. The win, Maryland’s fourth straight, was powered by a pair of home runs off the bats of Nick Dunn and Wil Watson and complemented by a solid six inning outing from starting pitcher Tyler Blohm. Kevin Biondic aided the effort with a pair of hits and an RBI, added several stellar defensive plays and picked up his first career save. Maryland will look to complete a sweep of their three games when they face Ball State Sunday morning.
Looking to the north, for the fourth time in four years, the women’s basketball team advanced to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament with a 66-53 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. This was the third meeting between the schools in the last month and Maryland had edged Nebraska 77-75 in the Terps final home game of the regular season just six days ago. Eleanna Christinaki had her first double double as a Terrapin with 14 points and 16 rebounds. Maryland also got enormous contributions from Ieshia Small who scored all of her 13 points in the first half on 6-7 shooting as the Terps built a 10 point halftime lead. Breanna Fraser came off the bench to pour in 18 points while grabbing five rebounds and blocking a pair of shots. The Terps will face Ohio State Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. for the title.
But the good news doesn’t stop there. Playing in Louisville, the Terrapins’ softball team won back to back games for the first time in nearly a year with an eight inning 3-2 win over Eastern Illinois and following that with a 5-1 triumph over IUPUI. It was the Terps’ second win over the Jaguars this weekend having beaten them 2-0 Friday night. Maryland will look to pick up their fourth win in five games this weekend against Miami of Ohio when they meet Sunday morning.
Maryland’s tennis team also got back on track registering a 4-3 win over Columbia in New York City.
All in all, it was a great day to be a Terp.
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