Maryland women’s lacrosse advances to Big Ten tournament championship with 15-9 win over Rutgers

All Maryland women’s lacrosse needed to do was take care of business against a Scarlet Knights unit it had already dominated earlier in the year. And that’s exactly what it did.

The No. 3-seed Terps (14-5) steamrolled No. 6-seed Rutgers (8-9) in the Big Ten tournament semifinals, clinching a chance at a title with a 15-9 rout in Columbus. The Terps will take on No. 1-seed Northwestern at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

It was all Terps from start to finish. They held the Scarlet Knights to a single score in the first half, while piling on 10 themselves. Rutgers made some noise in the third quarter, but it never held much of a candle to the visibly more talented opponent.

There were star performances across the board for Maryland. Senior midfielder Shaylan Ahearn brought in 10 draw controls with two goals to complement, junior attacker Chrissy Thomas dished out six assists and junior attacker Eloise Clevenger hammered the Scarlet Knights with four-consecutive goals in the first half.

“[Eloise and Chrissy have] been getting better all season and just learning how each other operate, learning ways to attack,” coach Cathy Reese said. “Those two are, I think, playing really well around the crease.”

Eight Terps found the back of the net in the onslaught as everyone for the Maryland offense seemed to click.

And while they didn’t fill out the stat sheet, the Terps’ defense was surgical against a fiery Rutgers attack. The experienced group turned out one of its best performances of the year, especially considering the unusual lack of double teams they deployed.

Maryland’s offense put on a clinic in the first quarter. It kept the ball away from its defense, who blanked the Scarlet Knights, and scored a flurry of six goals itself.

“We came out on fire, we came out focused, we came out really driven, and that was awesome,” Reese said. 

Senior attacker Hannah Leubecker, who missed the quarterfinal match with an injury, scored her first goal since April 8 to break the ice just over a minute in. 

The next four scores were assisted by Thomas. She got the start over Leubecker, who came off the bench with the injury, and immediately made it clear Reese made the right call.

She fed junior midfielder Shannon Smith for back-to-back goals, then dished to a pair of attackers in Clevenger and senior Libby May.

Clevenger ended the quarter with an impressive catch-and-shoot from Ahearn, jumping to bring in the pass and spinning to fire into the net.

“She’s awesome at finishing when she gets the ball in her stick,” Thomas said.

She then opened second-frame scoring for her third-straight tally on a smooth dodge around the crease. Clevenger capped off the streak with a fourth straight, setting a season-high in goals on Thomas’s career-high fifth assist.

The Rutgers defense finally began to hold, forcing two turnovers before it finally got on the board courtesy of graduate student attacker Marin Hartshorn at the 3:36 mark of the second quarter.

But it was a drop in the bucket to Maryland’s commanding eight-goal performance, which May added onto with 14 seconds left in the quarter.

“In that first half … we had a flow on the offensive end,” Ahearn said. “When one option wasn’t open we weren’t just stuck, instead we continued to move and continued to work with one another and open up different things.”

It looked like there wasn’t enough time for another goal before halftime, but Ahearn quickly secured a draw, blazed downfield past Scarlet Knight defenders and ripped an unassisted shot into the back of the cage, giving Maryland a remarkable 10-1 lead heading into the locker room.

The Scarlet Knights started the second half strong, covering the area inside the arc beautifully and holding the Terps to just two shots in the first 9:40, both of which were blocked.

Hartshorn and senior midfielder Cassidy Spilis tacked on goals during that span to help Rutgers cut into its deficit.

“In the second half we took our foot off the gas a little bit,” Reese said.

But Thomas finally took care of business herself on the offensive end, and after her array of assists in the first half, drove to the net and scored unassisted to get the Terps a second-half goal.

Hartshorn scored one more time — which junior attacker Kate Sites responded to with a fadeaway goal — and the sides sat at a lopsided 12-4 score entering the final quarter of play.

Freshman attacker Ava Kane tallied a fourth-quarter hat trick for the Scarlet Knights — alongside two other Rutgers goals — while freshman midfielder Kori Edmondson, May and Ahearn scored for the Terps in the frame. But that pace wasn’t nearly enough for the underdog, and Maryland ran away with a conference semifinal victory.

“We’re so excited to be playing on Saturday,” Thomas said. “We’re ready for another challenge.”