No. 5 Maryland women’s lacrosse falls in tight battle to No. 12 James Madison, 8-7

After a turnover by each team, Maryland women’s lacrosse possessed the ball down by one with just over two minutes remaining.

The Terps struggled with the shot clock all game, but it took them just 30 seconds to get the look they wanted. Hannah Leubecker got a strong shot off, but Dukes’ goalkeeper Kat Buchanan stuck her leg out and made an incredible save that very likely could have left a bruise. She fell on the loose ball, giving James Madison possession with 1:27 left. All it had to do was run out the clock, and the final score sat 8-7.

No. 5 Maryland (3-2) couldn’t complete a fourth quarter comeback, as it dropped the final leg of a three-game road stretch to the No. 12 Dukes (4-1). 

A physical game made way for the Terps to take 12 free-position shots. They converted just five. They outshot James Madison 29 to 16, but just 58 percent of their shots were on goal, compared to 75 percent from the Dukes.

“To [allow] 10 saves and score seven…that’s obviously not good enough,” coach Cathy Reese said.

After Big Ten Midfielder of the Week Shaylan Ahearn won the initial draw of the game, junior attacker Eloise Clevenger nearly scored on a beautiful move around the crease, but the shot bounced off the post.

It was the Dukes who drew first blood instead, on an impressive no-look shot from junior attacker Katelyn Morgan 6:14 in. Senior midfielder Lilly Boswell doubled their lead exactly one minute later.

Maryland’s offense struggled to get going early. In the first quarter, it got off just three shots, and the only one on-goal was a weak floater forced by the shot clock. The James Madison defense was nearly flawless, and Maryland couldn’t move the ball around and struggled to get looks. 

But Reese attributed their poor early offense to a lack of confidence.

“Our team was a little bit hesitant, and we didn’t attack the cage as hard as we needed to against a team like that,” Reese said.

Fortunately for the Terps, their defense more than held their own. Graduate student Marge Donovan played a great game around the crease. She was as physical as the rules allowed her to be when the Dukes attacked from the X, shutting down multiple opportunities. Neither of their first-quarter goals came from Donovan’s woman.

The rest of the team shared her physicality. Despite it, they kept their foul numbers down, and only allowed two free-position shots.

“It was physical, but we stuck to our defense and that control that we’re taught to play with,” graduate student defender Abby Bosco said.

The second frame was more of the same. The Terps’ defense held their own — they only allowed four shots in the quarter, but two turned into goals. Star redshirt junior attacker Isabella Peterson didn’t get her first shot off until there was 1:36 left in the half, which she scored.

With 12:47 left, Clevenger scored Maryland’s first goal off a free-position attempt. Its next goal didn’t come until there were two seconds left. 

It wasn’t for a lack of shots as the Terps took eight, but just half were on goal — a lack of offensive movement killed them. James Madison’s zone defense was hardly tested in the first half. In turn, Maryland struggled to get the crease.

The last-second goal came from Leubecker. There was some confusion as to whether her shot counted; her free-position attempt initially was called a goal, before referees waved it off. During the half, the wave-off was reversed, and the second half started with the Dukes up 4-2.

The Terps came out with their hair on fire in the second half. Reese said she asked for more off-ball movement, and it manifested; not a single attacker was idle for the entire third quarter. 

That movement didn’t translate into goals for the first 10 minutes of the quarter. 

“We were getting into the lanes we needed to be, we were getting some good looks…we just didn’t finish them,” Reese said.

But then, with 4:35 left, Clevenger recreated her move from the first quarter, wrapping around the crease and barely sneaking a shot past redshirt senior goalkeeper Buchanan.

Almost two minutes later, freshman midfielder Kori Edmondson showed some impressive torque on a free-position shot, bending left and firing a bullet into the goal.

The Dukes regained momentum late, as redshirt senior midfielder Lizzy Fox scored her first goal of the season with 0:36 left in the third. 

They went into the final quarter up 6-4, and kept building on that momentum. Peterson got her second goal — on her second shot — and 1:17 later, Boswell also scored her second.

The Maryland offense regressed to its first half form in the last quarter. Its off-ball movement went back into hiding, and didn’t score for nearly eight minutes before senior attacker Libby May got her first goal. The score was 8-5, but it didn’t feel as close as three goals.

The game was far from over. Maryland’s tempo increased on both sides of the ball, and they appeared to be finding a spark.

“We started to play really hard towards the last six, seven minutes of the game,” Reese said. “Which is what we should have been doing all game long, and for some reason we waited ‘till the fourth quarter to try to do that.”

A pair of free-position goals from Leubecker and May made it a one-score game with 4:22 remaining. Maryland got the ball back with 2:13 left but couldn’t score, and James Madison emerged victorious, 8-7.

“It’s so early in the season, and we’re growing and seeing those improvements,” Bosco said. “But also definitely we’re going to go into film…and we’re going to make those adjustments and keep getting better.”