No. 10 Maryland women’s lacrosse uses explosive first half to cruise past No. 17 Princeton, 15-11

Marge Donovan is the second-straight Maryland women’s lacrosse graduate defender to celebrate a win over her former program.

After Abby Bosco did so a week ago against Penn, she helped the No. 10 Terps (9-3) take down No. 17 Princeton (4-4) 15-11 on a frigid Wednesday night at SECU Stadium in College Park.

“I’m wearing that Maryland jersey on the turf,” Donovan said, “I’m so proud to be a Terp. But afterwards, it was great to see my old teammates. There’s some great people.”

Maryland’s starpower was out in full force. Senior attacker Libby May tied a season-high with six goals, junior attacker Eloise Clevenger finished with seven points and Bosco filled out the box score with four caused turnovers, five ground balls and six draw controls.

It was a streaky offensive performance for both teams, but Maryland’s streaks were more sustained than Princeton’s. The Terps went on two big scoring runs — 4-0 and 5-0 — that pushed them over the top.

Maryland’s now on a six-game winning streak as it enters the bulk of its Big Ten schedule, starting with No. 15 Michigan on Sunday.

The Terps’ offense opened the game sloppily despite leading for nearly the entire first quarter. They turned the ball over three times in the first eight minutes, and looked out of sorts passing the ball until around that mark. 

But Maryland still led 2-1 at that point due to sloppiness-free defensive play. The Tigers registered just three shots-on-goal in the first 12 minutes, and their only free-position shot was forced wide. 

May was the spark plug Maryland needed on the offensive end early on; she already had the Terps’ second goal, and got their third from eight meters out at the six-minute mark.

Senior midfielder Shaylan Ahearn made it 4-1 70 seconds later on a nifty catch-and-shoot from Clevenger. Clevenger had herself a night, finishing with a hat trick and four assists. She’s back as the quarterback of the team after a mid-season sabbatical from the role — she had 13 assists in the first four games, four in the next five and now 12 in the last three.

“She has so many things up her sleeve that make her dangerous,” coach Cathy Reese said. “[She] was excellent from up top. And then she’s the one that sees people from behind.”

Senior attacker Hannah Leubecker tacked on another goal before Princeton’s offense finally made its presence known. 

The Ivy League’s top-scoring unit scored twice in 54 seconds, including an incredible no-look behind-the-back goal from freshman attacker Jami MacDonald, to cut the Maryland lead to 5-3.

The quarter closed after one more goal from each side, including May’s third of the night.

Maryland’s offense found a new gear after that, and it wasn’t easy getting its foot off the gas pedal. The Terps went on a 5-0 run in a 4:18 span thanks to two goals from freshman midfielder Kori Edmondson and one each from Leubecker, May and Clevenger. 

“We don’t want to be a team that [opponents] can scout a couple players and then shut them off and then we can’t do anything,” May said.

For Edmondson’s part, the star recruit turned out another excellent game on both ends of the field, but failed to extend what was a six-game streak of hat tricks entering Wednesday.

The final three came in 60 seconds as the Terps continued to flex their offensive firepower. Reese’s goal of seven dangerous scorers has fully manifested as the Terps move onto their conference slate.

MacDonald broke the scoring run midway through the second quarter but Clevenger scored once more to give the Terps a comfortable 12-5 halftime lead.

The third quarter didn’t amount to much for either team, although the Princeton offense had opportunities aplenty to bring the game back into reach. But eight shots-on-goal resulted in just two goals as senior goalkeeper Emily Sterling put on a clinic in the net.

Reese and Donovan were not happy with the defensive performance in the second half that allowed that many shots.

“We need to have a sustained effort from the start of quarter one to the final whistle after the fourth quarter,” Donovan said. “It’s a mental switch … We saw how good we can be, but we have to keep that foot on the gas.”

May and Clevenger added on additional goals to close out the quarter with the Maryland lead still at seven.

Princeton made it interesting late but the gap was just too much with too little time remaining. It tallied four more goals, including a 3-0 run between 9:32 and 5:26 to get the game to its final score, but that wasn’t enough as Maryland’s defense closed the game out with a firm hand. 

The Tigers didn’t get a shot off from their last goal until five seconds remained on the game clock.

A few ticks of the clock later, and the Terps’ bench celebrated a victory for a sixth-straight game.

“It’s great that we have different people step up every game,” May said. “I think that’s gonna be crucial going into the postseason.”