No. 10 Maryland women’s lacrosse vs. Ohio State preview

No. 10 Maryland women’s lacrosse (11-3, 3-0 Big Ten) enters its Saturday matinee with Ohio State (5-8, 0-3 Big Ten) riding an eight-game win streak, despite being put on upset watch in each of their last two games. 

No. 16 Michigan trailed by one early in the fourth quarter on Sunday, and Johns Hopkins took a lead with just 8:37 left on Wednesday. But the Terps pulled away late to win both games.

The one thing each of those teams had in common was their selflessness on offense. 

Michigan’s sophomore attacker Jill Smith is its overwhelming primary goal-scorer, but with graduate student defender Abby Bosco giving her fits all game, the Wolverines had six players score their seven goals. And the Blue Jays — who have eight players with nine or more goals on the season —  had seven scorers combine for 12.

Ohio State falls somewhere in the middle of Michigan and Johns Hopkins. It totes a clear top weapon — senior attacker Nicole Ferrara, who leads the team with 33 goals — but it spreads scoring opportunities around more than Michigan does.

Maryland did not handle its last two tests of defensive communication well. And while it’s certainly improved in that aspect as the season has progressed, coach Cathy Reese sees the potential for more.

“We had a lot of new faces [on defense],” Reese said. “We just needed some time to get our feet under us and figure out how to play the style of defense that [assistant coach Lauri Kenis] likes to coach.”

The Maryland defense will take on a Buckeyes squad that has struggled to build off a strong start to the year. They won their first three games but are 2-8 in their last 10.

A large part of the decline can be attributed to their defense. They allowed just 19 goals over their early win streak, but have since given up double-digit goals in all but one game, pulling them down to second-worst in the Big Ten in goals allowed per game.

That defensive unit has seen more action than they’d like, as Ohio State ranks dead-last in the Big Ten in draw controls per game. And its defense struggles to get off the field when it does lose draws. The Buckeyes have caused the second-fewest turnovers in the conference, and they are last in clear percentage when they do regain possession. 

Those numbers would likely look far worse if not for the stellar play of junior goalkeeper Regan Alexander, who has a strong case for best goalie in a conference chock-full of elite goalies. 

She’s second in the Big Ten in save percentage and first in saves per game. But what separates Alexander is the fact that she’s also the Buckeyes’ best defender. She leads the team in both caused turnovers and ground balls, the only goalie in the conference to lead their team in either.

Alexander has caused 13 turnovers this season. The only other Big Ten goalie with more than two caused turnovers is Maryland senior Emily Sterling, who has four.

Alexander will most likely cause problems for a Maryland offense that’s struggled with efficiency at times this year. Reese wants her unit shooting above .500 on shot attempts, which it did for the first time in four games against Johns Hopkins. 

But that isn’t a realistic every-match goal; only five teams average a shooting percentage of at least .500. Still, the Terps haven’t gone below .400 since March 11 at Villanova after doing so three times in their first six games.

“We want to be an offense where any of the seven people on the field can score,” Reese said. “And I do think we’re evolving to that when the season goes on.”

An area of struggle for the Maryland offense has been its turnovers, much to the dismay of Reese.

“We’ll work on…valuing our possessions a little bit more,” Reese said. “I just want to take care of the ball. We turn it over a couple times early to the shot clock, which can’t happen.”

Junior attacker Eloise Clevenger’s absence Wednesday didn’t help things either. Fellow junior attacker Chrissy Thomas performed well in her place, finishing with four assists and a goal, but she set up primarily behind the cage. Clevenger spends most of her time in the same spot, but is a dangerous scorer in front of the cage as well. 

Reese has raved about Clevenger’s versatility all year, and Maryland’s offense was noticeably less dynamic without her in the lineup. It’s unclear whether she’ll be back Saturday after dealing with a family emergency on Wednesday.

Face-off against the Buckeyes is scheduled for noon at SECU Stadium.