No. 2 Maryland women’s lacrosse’s defensive struggles leads to 20-11 loss to No. 4 Syracuse

25 seconds after her fifth goal of the game, Syracuse’s Meaghan Tyrrell’s sixth goal of the day was a beautiful fadeaway sidearm under goalkeeper Emily Sterling’s left arm.

All No. 2 Maryland women’s lacrosse could do was watch. It had no answers for the USA Lacrosse Preseason Player of the Year.

11 points set the graduate student attacker’s career-high on the way to a 20-11 blowout win for No. 4 Syracuse. 

Coach Cathy Reese talked about her goals to improve offensive efficiency and defensive communication after their season-opening win over Saint Joseph’s. The Terps regressed in both categories. 

Sterling finished with a save percentage of just .231, but it’s hard to pin that number on her. Maryland allowed countless open shots and let Syracuse dominate the arc.

“We didn’t help each other out, we didn’t slide when we needed to,” Reese said. “It’s tough for [Sterling] to make saves when we’re not altering their shots at all.”

Offensively, the Terps shot just .355. Senior goalkeeper Delaney Sweitzer showed out for the Orange, blocking eight of Maryland’s 13 free position shots and collecting a total of 13 saves — setting her career-high for the second game in a row.

“This needs to be a point for us that we can go in an upward direction and start to make some adjustments and execute our game plan,” Reese said. 

Tyrrell wasted no time getting to work. She assisted Syracuse’s first goal by graduate student attacker Megan Carney with 13:43 left, and scored their second exactly one minute later. 

A minute later, junior attacker Eloise Clevenger converted her first free position attempt of the season to make it 2-1. 

Maryland’s defensive communication issues were evident early on. Syracuse gashed the Terps with picks and weaves, drawing defenders off their assignments and jumping out to a 6-2 lead still with time left in the first quarter.

“They were clearing through well for each other and they were executing their plays,” senior midfielder Shaylan Ahearn said.

The Terps built some momentum at the end of the quarter, scoring three goals in 72 seconds to close the gap and make it 6-5.

It was all Orange in the second quarter. They outscored the Terps 5-1, including a few savvy goals from the X. Offensively, Maryland had opportunities — it took seven shots — but couldn’t capitalize on them. 

Despite Reese’s goal to have seven potential scorers on the field, the Terps did not move the ball well offensively. Only three of their 11 goals were assisted — an unsustainable style of play for an offense lacking a true number one option so far this season. 

“You could see there was a bit of timidness and lack of trust,” Ahearn said.

No one scored in the final 5:33, and Syracuse went into the half up 11-6.

It was more of the same in the second half. The Orange scored three times in the first four minutes, two of which were assisted by Tyrrell. They went into kill-the-clock mode, using a massive chunk of the shot clock on most of their possessions.

Maryland scored both of its third-quarter goals on free-position shots. The Terps attempted five such shots in the quarter, but Sweitzer made impressive saves on three of them. Once again, it was their lack of efficiency that killed them; despite the final score, the Terps outshot Syracuse.

“They put [their shots] on goal and shot the snot out of the ball, and we didn’t,” Reese said.

Syracuse led 16-8 after three quarters. Sophomore midfielder Jordyn Lipkin’s score to open the fourth quarter sparked comeback hopes, but back-to-back goals from Tyrrell within 30 seconds of each other effectively squashed those hopes. 

The fourth quarter did provide one of Maryland’s few bright spots. Freshman midfielder Kori Edmondson, the top recruit in the country, scored her first collegiate goal with 8:31 remaining.

After senior attacker Libby May’s second goal was followed up by two from Syracuse, the Orange were victorious as the clock hit zero.

“We have an opportunity to step out in the field and prove to everyone … that we can execute a game plan and we can be there for one another,” Ahearn said.