No. 10 Maryland women’s lacrosse suffers first defeat in a month in 12-7 loss to No. 18 Penn State

A Maryland offense that desperately needed a spark finally looked like it had momentum with 6:19 left, when Kori Edmondson scored two consecutive free-position goals to cut Penn State’s lead to two.

But that momentum quickly dissolved when Brooke Hoss scored an eight-meter of her own for the Nittany Lions. Meghan Murray put the game away for good with another free-position goal a little over a minute later to put them up four, all-but icing the victory. 

One more garbage time goal solidified a 12-7 upset win for No. 18 Penn State (11-4, 3-2 Big Ten) over No. 10 Maryland (12-4, 4-1) Thursday night in State College.

The Terps needed a win to stay in contention for the Big Ten Tournament’s top seed, which will now belong to their next opponent in No. 2 Northwestern, pending a major upset Saturday when it plays Ohio State. 

It was arguably their worst showing of the year — they tied their lowest scoring output and a .280 shooting percentage was their second-lowest of the season.

“We weren’t really attacking the cage very hard,” coach Cathy Reese said. “After halftime we were trying to make some changes and attack their zone differently, and we just didn’t do it.”

Penn State’s goalkeeper, sophomore Ashley Bowan, had an incredible night. The Maryland native finished with a season-high 10 saves, just the fifth time in her career doing so — and the second against the Terps.

Maryland’s defense let the Nittany Lions’ offense go to work on the other end of the field. A lack of run support didn’t help, but it allowed a .462 shooting percentage from a Penn State offense with the worst percentage in the conference coming into the night.

“Every team is coming out here and we’re gonna get their best game,” Reese said. “Penn State was hungry tonight and credit to them.”

And the Terps’ draw control unit had an uncharacteristically poor night as well. They tied 11-11 with the Nittany Lions on face-offs, but for a team with the nation’s second-best draw control percentage, that mark wasn’t good enough.

Both defenses showed out early, but Maryland narrowly escaped an early deficit. Penn State’s first shot was saved, but kept pressuring near the goal after the Terps failed on a clear. But graduate student defender Abby Bosco flew in to force a turnover and keep the game scoreless.

The Terps and Nittany Lions combined for three turnovers and only two shots in the first five minutes, showcasing the poor offense in the beginning stages of the game.

Edmondson finally broke the ice nearly seven minutes in on an eight-meter attempt. Senior attacker Libby May then doubled the lead with another one less than 90 seconds later, giving the Terps a two-goal cushion in the opening frame.

The Terps’ offense went into hiding for the next 19 minutes. They sent just two shots-on-goal in that period, one of which being an Edmondson free-position. 

“We didn’t move the ball fast enough,” Reese said. “Maybe we looked tired, but [we didn’t have] that sense of urgency where we’re attacking hard.”

Maryland shot an abysmal 3-for-13 in the half, and turned the ball over nine times, compared to Penn State’s five.

Meanwhile, four different Nittany Lions scored four consecutive goals. The Terps’ defense didn’t have a bad night, but they played with their backs to the wall all game.

May finally got the Terps back in the scoring column with 2:20 left in the second quarter.

Despite the poor early performance, Maryland went into halftime only down 4-3.

“We definitely started to pick up on some of the patterns that their offense was running,” senior goalkeeper Emily Sterling said.

But the slim margin didn’t last long, as Penn State scored twice in the first seven minutes of the second half. The latter came from freshman attacker Emma Kelly, who came off the bench for the best game of her young career. She finished with four goals, a new career-high.

“We got a little bit thrown off our game today with all of the free position shots that we gave up,” Sterling said. “That’s not typically something that we integrate into part of our defense.”

May responded and junior attacker Eloise Clevenger followed up with her first of the night to cut the Nittany Lions’ lead back down to one, at 6-5.

But Penn State went on a 3-0 scoring run in less than three minutes, including two more from Kelly. Four sloppy minutes from both teams gave way to Edmondson’s back-to-back goals, which proved to not be enough as the Terps’ nine-game win streak was snapped.

The Terps have a nine-day break before their regular season finale in Evanston against Northwestern, hoping to enter postseason play on the right note.

“[We have] our last regular season game … against the top team in the country whose hungry and wants to beat us just as bad as we want to beat them,” Sterling said. “It’s nice that we have these [nine] days to be able to reset, refocus and adjust.”