Women's lacrosse facing stingy foe in No. 9 Penn

TOWSON – Just outside the visitor's locker room of Unitas Stadium, not long after the Terrapin women's lacrosse team had dispatched Towson, 17-8, coach Cathy Reese scanned over a sheet of statistics from the game.

One number must have eluded her initial glance. After she addressed her team, she sounded surprised, perhaps even a bit astonished, when informed of attacker Sarah Mollison's career night.

"She had 10 points?" Reese exclaimed. "Well, I'm glad she's on my team."

Reese is certainly not alone, but she'll need Mollison and the entire Terp offense in full force when the nation's top-ranked team hosts No. 7 Penn tonight at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

The Terps (11-0) will face one of their stiffest tests this season in the Quakers' tenacious defensive unit. Penn (7-1) has allowed only 6.25 goals per game, the third-lowest mark in the country, and has held each opposing offense it's faced this season to single-digit scoring outputs.

"Penn has limited their opponents' opportunities this year ... and I just want to make sure that on offense, we're ready to go," Reese said.

The two teams are well acquainted, having met twice last year. The Terps won both matchups, including a 15-10 triumph in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals that cleared the path for a Final Four berth.

"They're a very talented team," Reese said. "We have two days to prepare, so we're going to make sure that we're covering all of our bases and we're going to be ready to play [tonight]."

The Quakers, who graduated seven starters from last year, began the season on a tear. They won their first six games, including a 10-7 result against then-No. 3 North Carolina, before suffering their lone loss at the hands of Johns Hopkins, 8-5, last week. On Sunday, Penn bounced back with a 10-6 home win against Cornell.

The Terps' attack should pose numerous problems for the Ivy League team. Mollison, who had five goals and five assists against Towson, leads the nation with 32 assists. Her favorite target, attacker Karri Ellen Johnson, tops the Terps with 39 goals, while midfielder Katie Schwarzmann sits in second with 33 scores.

What makes the team's attack so dangerous, though, is how many players besides Mollison, Johnson and Schwarzmann can score. Attackers Kristy Black (19 goals, 11 assists) and Alex Aust (17 assists) have emerged as dangerous options near the cage, complementing senior midfielders Laura Merrifield (17 goals) and Brandi Jones (14 goals). As a result, the Terps not only boast the largest scoring margin of any team in the country at nearly 10.5 goals per game, but they also average the most goals of any Division I team with 16.8 per contest.

Whether it will matter tomorrow remains to be seen.

"They're going to come out hard, so we're excited," Johnson said. "They're a top-five team. They've always been good, they've always been in the Final Four for the past couple years, so it should be a good game."

castello@umdbk.com