Maryland women’s lacrosse cruises past Drexel, 11-6, advances to second round of NCAA tournament

Maryland women’s lacrosse led by five in the third quarter against Drexel on Friday. But it hadn’t scored in over 15 minutes, and was looking for a spark on offense.

It wasn’t Kori Edmondson, Hannah Leubecker or Libby May — the Terps’ usual suspects in transition — driving down the field to score. Instead it was Abby Bosco flying by on her way to the net.

“It’s something that we’ve practiced a ton of times,” Bosco said. “If they’re not going to respect you and pick you up, go to goal.”

The defender — who was a midfielder coming out of high school — sprinted fearlessly inside the arc, barreled into two Drexel defenders and fell to the turf as her shot entered the net for the first time this season.

Maryland (15-6) added on a few insurance goals after that, but not much more offensive firepower was needed. The Terps cruised to a 11-6 victory over the Dragons (12-6) in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and will take on the regional host in No. 7-seed James Madison on Sunday.

The Terps’ offense didn’t need to excel because Bosco led an effort on the other end that saw Drexel score just one goal on nine shots between the second and third quarters. She finished with five caused turnovers, a single-game season high for Maryland.

“You watch the game and all you see is Abby running up [and down] the field,” coach Cathy Reese said. “I think she ran a thousand 100-yard sprints tonight.”

The Terps also benefited from strong performances by junior attackers Kate Sites and Chrissy Thomas. Sites, who’s turned into a key bench piece in the postseason, tacked on two goals, while Thomas added a pair of scores — including a fourth-quarter tally to stop a late Drexel run — and assisted in two as well.

Leubecker came off the bench against the Dragons due to a nagging hamstring injury, according to a team spokesperson. But that didn’t stop the senior attacker from scoring Maryland’s first two goals, both within the game’s initial three minutes — split up by a Drexel goal from fifth-year attacker Grace Harding.

“We’re gonna keep rotating through and taking it play-by-play but… her production is crucial for our success,” Reese said.

The next three tallies also came from Terps — May, Thomas and junior attacker Eloise Clevenger found paydirt. Drexel star sophomore goalkeeper Jenika Cuocco had some rare struggles early on, letting the first five Maryland shots-on-goal past her.

This run came despite the Dragons dominating Maryland on the draw, a rare occurrence this year. They took six of eight in the first frame, but only turned that into two goals. Drexel turned the ball over four times, two of which were responsible from Bosco.

Junior midfielder Shannon Smith finished the quarter with some fireworks, flinging in a pass from May as time ran out to give the Terps a four-goal lead entering the second quarter.

“What they bring on one side of the field lifts our energy on the opposite side of the field,” senior goalkeeper Emily Sterling said.

Their defensive domination spanned throughout the entire second quarter. Drexel was blanked on just five shots, adding on another four turnovers. 

Meanwhile, May’s 60th goal of the year and Sites’ first of the game extended Maryland’s lead to 8-2 at half.

The Dragons’ offensive struggles continued into the third frame, but their defensive performance improved early on. They held the Terps to only two shots in the first 10 minutes as Maryland’s attack struggled to get anything going, until its most accomplished defender took matters into her own hands.

Sites blew past a defender for her second goal of the afternoon with 1:53 left in the quarter. The Terps’ offense went back into hiding after that, scoring just one more time before the final whistle.

Drexel made it interesting in the fourth quarter. Its offense came alive, scoring three times in under three minutes — including the first of the outing from senior midfielder Corinne Bednarik, the Dragons’ lead scorer.

But that run wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit, and Maryland easily ran the clock to triple zeroes to extend its NCAA first-round win streak to 16 games.

Its second-round bout with James Madison is a rematch of the Dukes’ 8-7 victory over the Terps on March 1. And Maryland is chomping at the bit to get revenge.

“Since we walked off the field that day, we’ve been wanting another shot at that,” Bosco said. “We’re super pumped.”