No. 6 Maryland women’s lacrosse downs No. 7 Florida, 14-13

Tied at 13 with less than 30 second left, Victoria Hensh took a pass from Hannah Leubecker well outside 12 meters out.

The junior attacker was already having a career day. She had three goals, tied for the career-high she set against Florida last year in the NCAA quarterfinals.

Hensh stormed forward with no resistance, cocked back, and fired a bullet from the arc under Gator goalie Sarah Reznick’s stick to top her career-high, and to give Maryland the lead with 17 seconds left.

Leubecker got the final draw control, and all the Terps had to do was run out the clock.

No. 6 Maryland women’s lacrosse (3-1) took down No. 7 Florida (1-2) in thrilling fashion, 14-13. 

The game was a tale of two Terps teams. After a dominating first quarter after which they led 7-4, they couldn’t get anything going in the second and third, being outscored 6-1. But they found their rhythm late, as six fourth quarter goals pushed them over the top.

“I think this is a moment of growth for us as a team,” coach Cathy Reese said. “We didn’t hesitate and we never quit and we never put our head down.”

The Gainesville environment presented a unique challenge for the Terps. The Gator fans in attendance presented the loudest atmosphere the Terps have played in thus far. And after two outdoor games not reaching 60 degrees, and a domed outing in Syracuse, the temperature hovered in the mid-80’s throughout the game.

“We learned to embrace [the atmosphere],” Hensh said. “It motivated us to play even harder than we ever thought we could … we rose to the occasion.”

Senior attacker Libby May drew first blood, scoring just 27 seconds into the game off a pass from the quarterback of the team, attacker Eloise Clevenger. The junior has led Maryland in assists every game this season, and she continued that against the Gators, dishing out all of the team’s five. She’s thrived in her expanded role as a junior.

“Eloise has great vision and is a great feeder,” Reese said. “She can see what was going on.”

It was an especially physical first quarter, but the Gators accounted for most of the illegal physicality. They drew 11 fouls to Maryland’s four, setting the Terps up for five free position shots — of which they converted four.

After May reached a hat trick with 0:02 left, the first quarter came to a close with Maryland up 7-4.

The second quarter started almost exactly as the first quarter did. Clevinger fed May from behind the goal and the third-team Preseason All-American drained her fourth goal of the outing — this time 36 seconds into the quarter. She’d finish with a team-high six.

The rest of the quarter was not as kind to the Terps. Their offense went silent for the final 14:24, partially due to a much smaller share of possession as the Gators held the ball for the healthy majority of the quarter. Maryland got off six shots, but just three were on-goal.

The Gators scored four times in just over four minutes — two from star sophomore attacker Emma LoPinto and two from junior attacker Maggi Hall — before a scoreless last four minutes brought the teams into the half tied at eight.

Maryland endured a scoring drought during the entire third quarter, while for the Gators, LoPinto scored one and dished out another to junior attacker Ashley Gonzalez to extend their run to 6-0. Maryland went into the final quarter down 10-8.

Just like the first two quarters, the first goal of the last frame came from May off a Clevinger pass from behind the goal.

“I’ve had the fortune of playing with Libby for the last 2-3 years,” Clevinger said. “I know her tendencies and what she’s going to do in the middle and she makes my job … very easy.”

From there, the Maryland offense finally caught fire. After scoring once off 11 shots in quarters two and three, it scored five times on its first seven shots in the fourth, including a few long ones from Hensh.

The Terps led 13-11 when Hall scored her fourth of the game to cut the deficit to one with 4:54 left.

After a back-and-forth three minutes, junior attacker Danielle Pavinelli dodged a double team and her shot found the back of the net, bringing the game to a 13-13 tie with 1:19 left.

Senior midfielder Shaylan Ahearn won the all-important draw, her sixth of the outing. Maryland called timeout to discuss the final possession with 48 seconds left.

Its strategy meeting paid off, as after some behind-the-goal ball movement, Hensh was wide open for her final shot of the game.

“We had a few different looks that we wanted to see if we could get, and Victoria was hot,” Reese said.

Hensh nailed it, securing the win for the Terps.

“[Today] shows us what this group can be capable of, and we just need to continue to work to playing a consistent 60 minutes out there,” Reese said.