Second-half fireworks keep women's lacrosse undefeated

Once again, the Terrapin women's lacrosse team entered halftime Friday with a two-goal lead against a top-five ACC rival.

Last weekend, it was a 9-7 halftime edge against No. 4 Duke. A dominant second-half performance soon paved the way for an 18-11 victory.

This weekend, the No. 1 Terps held a 5-3 advantage at the break against No. 5 Virginia, a team starting its ACC slate at its home opener.

Not that it mattered.

The Terps dazzled in the final 30 minutes, scoring 13 of the next 16 goals to propel the team to an 18-6 win at Klockner Stadium.

"[We were able to] limit our turnovers, which I think was the cause of a lot of our problems," coach Cathy Reese said. "In the first half, we weren't successfully getting the ball from one end of the field to the other to create opportunities, so we were limiting ourselves in the first half. ... We made some adjustments and, I think, came out much stronger in the second."

A glance at the stat sheet made that belief hard to disprove. After committing seven turnovers in the first half, the Terps (5-0, 2-0 ACC) had only four in the second. The team maintained possession for much of the final half, winning 11 of 17 draw controls.

The Terps also more than doubled their shot production, firing 23 shots in the second half after hoisting 11 in the first. Scoring — and an abundance of it — soon followed.

Just more than two minutes into the final frame, midfielder Alex Aust (two assists) found midfielder Katie Schwarzmann (three goals) to begin the scoring session for the Terps. In a span of three minutes, midfielders Laura Merrifield and Beth Glaros also tacked on goals, extending the lead to 8-3.

Cavalier midfielder Julie Gardner, who, along with attacker Ainsley Baker, led the Cavaliers with two goals, scored with 18:17 remaining to cut the deficit to four. But that was as close as Virginia (2-2, 0-1) would get, as the Terps responded with five unanswered goals in less than three minutes.

"We weren't even getting looks in the first because of our standing around offensively," Reese said. "I thought we just looked a little lazy, to be honest. And we picked that up in the second half, turned it around and were able to put more points on the board."

The result had to be especially gratifying for Merrifield, who missed the first three games of the season due to shingles and illness.

The senior captain scored a goal in her debut last week against the Blue Devils, although the majority of her contributions came on the defensive end. Friday night was a different story for the senior, who needed only five shots to score a perfectly efficient five goals, a team high.

"We've been working so well as a unit, and to come back in, rejoin the unit has been awesome," Merrifield said. "And to have my teammates help me score these goals, it's good. Honored to play with them."

Attacker Karri Ellen Johnson finished with four goals and an assist, while attacker Kristy Black added a hat trick. Goalie Brittany Dipper also continued her stellar play in net with a season-high seven saves. The Terps held a Cavalier offense that had been averaging more than 17 goals a game to its lowest scoring output this season.

The team breaks from conference play to face George Mason tomorrow afternoon at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

castello@umdbk.com