Women's lacrosse set for two-game weekend road trip

With a pair of winnable road games set for Sunday and Tuesday, the Terrapin women's lacrosse team seemingly has the ingredients necessary for a memorable spring break.

This trip, however, won't include any SPF 40 or sand-sprinkled flip-flops. The No. 1 Terps first travel northeast to chilly Newton, Mass., for a Sunday matinee matchup with No. 18 Boston College.

The team then heads to New York to take on Stony Brook in a nonconference contest Tuesday. The Terps are hoping it won't be their only trip to the Long Island school this year — a return date would mean a spot in the Women's Lacrosse Championship in May.

And coming off of their lowest goal-scoring effort this season, a 7-5 win against a Syracuse side that effectively executed its stalling strategy last week, the Terps (7-0, 2-0 ACC) are not preparing for their third conference opponent of the season lightly.

"I think that we take every game like it's the national championship. We're not overlooking anyone," defender Katie Gallagher said. "We're going to come out as hard as we can against them."

A stout defensive squad, the Eagles have not allowed more than a dozen goals in a game this season and limited the defending champions to their lowest number of goals last year in a 7-6 Terp win. This year, however, they have not faced an offense comparable to the Terps' prolific attack, which already features four players with at least a dozen goals: Katie Schwarzmann (24), Karri Ellen Johnson (23), Sarah Mollison (15) and Kristy Black (12).

Mollison, a senior, leads the team with 16 assists and serves as the Terps' primary facilitator on set plays. The captain scored a team-high two goals and finished with two valuable assists against the Orange.

"Sarah does a great job of utilizing her options," Reese said. "She sees the field really well, she makes smart decisions when she has the ball and she can create plays. She's somebody that other teams need to worry about. ... They need to look to double her and when they do, she creates offensive opportunities for other players."

Boston College (7-1, 0-1) reeled off six wins, all on the road, to start the season before its comeback effort fell just shy in a 12-11 loss to Virginia Tech. The squad bounced back yesterday, though, with a 15-10 win against Harvard in its home opener.

The Eagles are the fifth ranked opponent to test the Terps this season. Reese's squad not only contends with a difficult ACC slate but also annually plays some of the best teams in the nation not from the conference.

"So no matter what, you go into the season and you're playing your conference schools, which are all really good," Reese said. "And then we've developed some really strong rivalries that have gone on from the years back to before my time here as a player."

The Orange utilized a game plan that focused its efforts on killing the clock. But regardless of the style Boston College implements, Mollison is confident her team will be ready.

"Our coaches tell us every day, we need to be ready for anything," the Australia native said. "So teams that come out and want to hold the ball, we're practicing that, and teams that want to play our kind of run ‘n' gun game, then we'll still take care of the ball and play our kind of style of offense."

castello@umdbk.com