No. 11 Maryland women’s lacrosse throttles William & Mary, 22-4

It seems like Maryland women’s lacrosse fans had years shaved off their lives over the last two weeks. Its last three matches were decided by one goal each — a 14-13 win over No. 10 Florida and 8-7 losses to No. 8 James Madison and No. 6 Denver — and all three came down to the final whistle.

The No. 11 Terps (4-3) needed a tune-up game against unranked William & Mary (2-4) Wednesday evening. And a tune-up game was what they got, as they demolished the Tribe, 22-4.

The blowout allowed them to dole out valuable playing time to their young depth; 25 players saw the field. Under the bright lights of SECU Stadium, they showed out. Eight of their goals came from players with two or fewer goals on the season. 

Freshman midfielder Emma Muchnick was particularly impressive. The No. 13 recruit in the nation scored four goals on seven shots after not entering a game since they beat Drexel Feb. 21. Two midfielders — redshirt freshman Maddy Sterling and sophomore Natalie Pansini — notched their first career goals as well. 

“I’m watching all the girls that I live with and I spend every day with get their moment to shine as well,” Muchnick said. “And that was really awesome.”

The game was never a contest. The Tribe drew first blood, but Maryland answered with four goals of their own. The first two came from senior attacker Libby May, one of which was assisted by graduate student defender Abby Bosco — her first point of the season.

Muchnick scored next, and freshman midfielder Kori Edmondson followed that up with the first goal of her first career start. She’d finish the night with four in her first career start; her career-high, and her second consecutive hat trick.

William & Mary scored twice more in the quarter — which the Terps matched with an additional three goals — to enter the second frame up 7-3. From there, Maryland’s defense kicked into overdrive. Despite a heavy sprinkling of bench players on the field, they allowed just one goal in the final three quarters.

The Terps forced 13 turnovers, nearly doubling their previous season-high. They paired that with only 10 fouls.

“It’s not necessarily about the stats or the numbers, it’s about playing our defense,” graduate student defender Marge Donovan said. “The pillars of our defense trust communication, listening…we’re playing together, and we’re trusting our defense.

Muchnick quickly scored to open the second quarter on a feed from junior attacker Eloise Clevenger. Clevenger followed that up with a goal of her own to extend the Maryland lead to six.

Senior attacker Hannah Leubecker scored her first two goals of the game later in the quarter. And to close out the half, Edmondson returned from a brief injury-related hiatus and sent the Terps into the half up 14-3 with an overhand shot through contact.

Edmondson alleviated all remaining injury concerns when she scored twice in the first 3:10 of the second half. She’s already established herself as one of Maryland’s top offensive weapons seven games into her career, with 10 goals and just one start. 

“She can dodge anyone, she is tough and competitive and can make things happen,” coach Cathy Reese said. 

Sophomore attacker Hailey Russo took the draws for much of the second half. Their usual draw specialist — senior midfielder Shaylan Ahearn — had nine in the first half, and as a team, Maryland outdrew the Tribe 22 to eight. 

22 was its season-high, impressive for a team that already is third in the Big Ten in draw controls per game.

“It leads to possessions, possessions are opportunities to score,” Reese said. “It’s the dumbest thing ever, but when we have the ball, they don’t.”

Goals from May and Sterling put Maryland ahead 18-4 entering the fourth quarter. After four more goals in the final frame — including Muchnick’s final two — Maryland celebrated its first 20-goal performance since its season opener in 2022.

The confidence that a performance like the Terps had instills will be key for them going forward, Donovan said. They play Villanova on the road Saturday.

“We really needed this to take a deep breath and realize how incredibly talented we are,” she said.