No. 12 Maryland women’s lacrosse falls to No. 2 Northwestern in regular season finale, 13-6

No. 12 Maryland women’s lacrosse went into the fourth quarter against No. 2 Northwestern with a chance to pull off a major road upset, only down four. But it would need an offensive spark to make that happen.

The Terps didn’t get that spark. They didn’t even get a shot off until there was less than two minutes left in the game, and with the Wildcats up seven. 

Northwestern (15-1, 6-0 Big Ten) clinched the No. 1-seed in the Big Ten tournament with a 13-6 win over Maryland (12-5, 4-2 Big Ten) Saturday night.

In an outing that featured the conference’s two highest-scoring offenses, it ended up as the lowest-scoring game of the regular season for both teams.

“We got some great looks, and we’ve got to finish them,” coach Cathy Reese said. “We weren’t able to execute our game plan offensively.”

The Terps scored on just a third of their shots, failing to convert on a plethora of opportunities presented to them. But to their credit, Northwestern’s goalkeeper — graduate student Molly Laliberty — had an incredible game, bringing in a few impressive saves to keep the Wildcats ahead.

But Maryland’s defense showed out for the majority of the night, despite the Wildcat offense possessing the ball for a large chunk of the game. Northwestern became just the second unit this season — the other being No. 1 Syracuse — to outdraw the Terps, doing so 12-to-9.

“They were doing a really good job of crashing in on the draw,” senior midfielder Shaylan Ahearn said. “There were a few balls that we won and got checked out of our sticks.”

It looked like the Terps were in for a long game after they allowed the first three goals of the game. 

Graduate student attacker Izzy Scane wasted no time getting to work — the nation’s leading scorer blew by a defender and converted 31 seconds into the game. Star freshman midfielder Madison Taylor added on another three minutes later, and senior attacker Erin Coykendall topped off the scoring run two minutes later.

But senior attacker Libby May’s first goal of the game shot some energy into the Terps. Ahearn tacked on another score six minutes later to cut the Northwestern lead to one with two minutes left in the quarter.

It looked like that would hold for the second frame, but Northwestern graduate student midfielder Elle Hansen converted on an incredible buzzer-beater goal on an eight-meter attempt standing on the arc.

The Wildcats had at least a goal in every quarter since the beginning of the 2022 season, when collegiate women’s lacrosse switched from halves to quarters. That streak stopped in the second frame, when Maryland held them scoreless for a full 15 minutes.

They fired only three shots-on-goal in the quarter, and senior goalkeeper Emily Sterling brought them all in. The Terps put plenty of pressure on the star-studded Northwestern attack, forcing three turnovers and rarely leaving a lane uncovered.

“We stuck to exactly what we had practiced on defense,” Ahearn said. “We were very disciplined and we worked as a unit.”

But their offense didn’t provide the goal support they should have. Ahearn and junior attacker Chrissy Thomas each scored early, but their next five shots were saved and they looked out of sync at times.

The sides went into the half tied 4-4, but Northwestern and its top-scoring offense in the nation didn’t stay down for long. Hansen and Taylor tacked on goals in the first four minutes to take an early second-half lead.

Junior attacker Eloise Clevenger wrapped around the crease to score Maryland’s last meaningful goal of the night. It was held scoreless for over 21 minutes until Thomas added on one more with a little under a minute and a half left.

“We just played a little bit tentative,” Ahearn said. “We played back on our heels instead of attacking.”

Meanwhile, the Northwestern offense finally found its form, scoring seven times in the final 22:01. Maryland had no answers for graduate student attacker Hailey Rhatigan, who contributed four of those goals.

Coykendall tacked on two more in the fourth, and the Wildcats mobbed each other at midfield in celebration of their regular season title.

Maryland will host Ohio State in the first round of the Big Ten tournament this upcoming Saturday. Game time will be announced later in the week.

“We all have a good head on our shoulders,” Ahearn said. “We know that …  we can come out with a fighting mindset [and] use this game as fuel and have a really strong week of practice.”