Terps Headed to First Title Game Since 2001
by Brian Logue | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | NCAA Semifinals Blog
|
|
Laura Merrifield scored a pair of goals as Maryland beat Syracuse 14-5 on Friday night in the NCAA semifinals. © John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com |
TOWSON, Md. - If Maryland is going to win its first national championship since 2001, it's not going to do it by backing into a title. That much was evident as the Terps pulled away from Syracuse in the final six minutes of the game for a 14-5 victory in the first of two NCAA semifinal games on Friday night at Towson University.
Five-time defending national champion Norhtwestern meets North Carolina in the second semifinal. The championship game will be held on Sunday, May 30 at 5:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports.
Maryland completely dominated the first half and led 7-2 at the break, but Syracuse slowly worked its way back into the game and pulled to within 8-5 on freshman Michelle Tumolo's second goal of the game with 11:23 left in the game.
Syracuse lost possession on an illegal screen call with about seven minutes remaining and the Terps had the chance to go into stall mode, but that was the furthest thing from their minds.
Karri Ellen Johnson fed Katie Schwarzmann for a goal with 6:26 to play to ignite a six-goal run over the next 4:15 as the Terps finished with a flourish. Johnson had a goal and two assists in the game-closing run and senior Caitlyn McFadden added two more goals to finish with a game-high four goals
"I think we have a very fast and fit team and that was obvious tonight," said Maryland head coach Cathy Reese, who was an assistant coach for Maryland's 2001 title team. "We did have a little drought there for a while where we were making some unnecessary turnovers, but this teamfound a way to fight back and was able to continue to push our transition and take care of the ball at the end of the game."
|
The first rule of Project Mayhem: don't ask questions. |
Johnson's goal at the 6:26 mark ended a scoring drought of nearly 22 minutes, but the Terps were streaky all night. After Syracuse's Halley Quillinan scored to cut Maryland's lead to 2-1 with 12:52 left in the opening half, the Terps responded with five goals in a span of less than six minutes to take command of the game.
"Everybody on the field on our offense can score and that's something we've focused on all season," said Resse. "I thought Laura Merrifield had a great game and she was taking it from one end of the field to the other."
Merrifield scored the first goal of the game for Maryland and she scored the goal that ignited Maryland's five-goal run in the first half. Johnson had two goals and three assists for the Terps while Sarah Mollison and Katie Schwarzmann also contributed two goals.
The constant in the game was Maryland's defense, which held Syracuse to a season-tying low of five goals. Syracuse never mounted a consistent offensive threat with Maryland winning 13-of-21 draw controls. Even Syracuse's 3-0 run in the second half was stretched out over nearly 10 minutes.
"I'm most proud of the heart of this team and I think that really shows on both ends of the field," said Reese. "This group in 2010 has so much heart, so much energy, so much excitement and so much passion for lacrosse."
