Northwestern pounces on Terps

In yesterday's titanic matchup between the No. 2-ranked Terrapin women's lacrosse team and No. 1 Northwestern, something had to give.

The Terps (13-2) entered the game on an eight-game winning streak, featuring the nation's third-best scoring offense and a 7-1 record against ranked opponents.

The Wildcats (11-1) came in with the nation's best defense and a 10-game winning streak of their own during which they had outscored opponents 176-57.

The Terps outshot the two-time defending national champions 35-26, but the Wildcats converted more opportunities in snapping the Terps' longest winning streak since 2004 with a 12-7 win.

"We had a lot of opportunites to score," coach Cathy Reese said. "Unfortunately, we didn't capitalize on all of them."

The Terps controlled the play in the early going, forcing three turnovers and firing the first five shots of the game on net. All five were stopped by Wildcat goalie Morgan Lathrop.

The Wildcats, on the other hand, took advantage of their first opportunity, and scored the first goal of the game on their first shot with 25 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in the first half.

"We had a lot of good looks in the first couple minutes of the game," Reese said. "It's just unfortunate we didn't put them away."

Northwestern scored two more goals in less than three minutes to take a 3-0 lead before Reese called a timeout.

After junior midfielder Dana Dobbie scored the Terps' first goal of the game with 21 minutes, 56 seconds left in the first half, the teams alternated goals, giving the Wildcats a 4-2 lead.

After each team scored again just nine seconds apart, the pace of the game settled down and the teams played even for the rest of the half, leaving the Terps trailing 7-5 at halftime.

"We matched up with them pretty evenly, or we could be a step better if we were on top of our game," junior midfielder Kelly Kasper said. "We were two very good teams, almost evenly matched."

In the second half, Dobbie scored her second goal of the game just 32 seconds in to make it 7-6, but it was as close at the Terps would get.

The Wildcats responded with two goals just 20 seconds apart to stretch their lead to 9-6 with 25 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in the game.

The Terps could only manage one more goal the rest of the way despite firing 14 more shots. Lathrop finished with 14 saves for the Wildcats.

"She was pretty good," Kasper said. "She was athletic and quick. Some of our shots could have been better placed."

Dobbie and junior midfielder Lauren Cohen each scored twice for the Terps, while senior attacker Krista Pellizzi, senior midfielder Katie Doolittle and junior midfielder Casey Magor also scored.

The win extended the Wildcats' home winning streak to 27 games.

"We pushed the ball on offense and generated a lot of shots," Reese said. "We just couldn't capitalize on those opportunities."

While a win probably would have made the Terps the top-ranked team in the nation, the out-of-conference loss will not affect their ranking too much.

"We had nothing to lose," Kasper said. "We were fired up, ready to go before the game. ... During the game you could just look into each other's eyes and see something was missing."

The Terps are still in a three-way tie for first place in the ACC and have one more conference game remaining before the ACC tournament on April 26-29.

The team is scheduled to play at Virginia Tech on Saturday, but after yesterday's tragedy in Blacksburg, it is unclear whether the game will be played as scheduled.

"Once we get back [from Northwestern], we'll try to sort some things out," Reese said. "It's a tough situation. We'll have to see."

Contact reporter Greg Schimmel at schimmeldbk@gmail.com.