No. 14 Penn outmatches top-ranked Maryland, 13-9

Penn attacker Niki Miles sliced a pass through defenders to an open Gracie Smith in the middle of Maryland’s zone. Smith slammed her shot past Emily Sterling to shut down the Terps comeback hopes. 

Smith’s goal highlighted No.1 Maryland’s 13-9 loss against No.14 Penn. The defeat comes mere days after the Terps received their first top-ranking since 2020. 

Shaylan Ahearn has been one of the top draw specialists in the country for Maryland, but Penn got the better of her today, winning 15 of the 26 faceoffs.

Maryland also struggled to hold on to the ball and complete crisp passes, committing 18 turnovers. Penn used these advantages to attempt 13 more shots than the Terps and control the pace of play. 

“I just think our biggest issue was turnovers today,” coach Cathy Reese said. “We were missing balls and getting touched and dropping it. And so with 18 turnovers obviously that’s not helping us generate a lot of looks on offense, and they did a nice job on the draw, too.” 

Two of the nation’s top defenses made it difficult early for the offensive units. But both offenses eventually found space to operate. Penn struck first with a goal from Anna Brandt after the Quakers recovered the rebound from a saved free position shot.

Brandt put in a strong performance, notching a first-half hat trick and scoring a team-high four goals. 

On the other end, the Terps found ways to keep it close early against the tough Quakers defense. Kori Edmondson scored a bounce shot to beat the keeper on a man-up opportunity. Hannah Leubecker followed with her 29th goal of the year on a free-position opportunity to give Maryland an early lead. 

The Terps had struggled to convert free position and man-up opportunities at an efficient rate this season but they found some success in the first half after Penn was called for several fouls and issued five cards. Leubecker added another goal on a man-up situation late in the first quarter to tie the match at 3-3. 

Leubecker delivered another four-goal outing but that wasn’t enough to secure a win. 

Penn used an over 11 minute Maryland scoring drought to seize momentum and scored three-straight goals to grab a 6-3 lead in the second frame.

The Terps once again struggled to generate offense for most of the second quarter, mirroring what happened last time out against Rutgers when they suffered a quarter-long drought. 

“We don’t ever want to have scoring droughts, but we didn’t generate a lot of shots tonight period,” Reese said. “But again, I think that’s a result of how many times we turned the ball over because you can’t shoot it if you don’t have it.” 

Libby May finally scored to break the scoring drought with just under three minutes left in the half. Edmondson took advantage of another man-up opportunity about 40 seconds later with a shot that flew past the keeper into the net. 

The Quakers again had a response. Catherine Berkery scored with less than a minute remaining in the half to stamp a two-goal lead. The run continued with goals from Natasha Gorriaran and Brandt to extend it to four.  

The Quakers played with a slower offensive pace than Maryland, preferring to wait for space to open up before making a move. Penn also utilized bounce shots to beat Emily Sterling on several occasions. Sterling allowed 13 goals with only 12 saves in an uncharacteristic performance after entering the game with a .564 save percentage. 

“Penn did a nice job of handling it,” Reese said. “They moved the ball really well and they created looks within their whole shot clock.” 

The Terps continued to battle in the second half but Penn matched Maryland goal-for-goal to maintain a three goal lead early into the fourth. 

Smith delivered the dagger with under six minutes left in the fourth quarter. She rocketed a shot past Sterling following an incisive pass from Miles. The goal extended the Quakers’ lead to four. The streak wasn’t over, as Miles added another to widen the gap between the Terps in their eventual upset loss.