Rutgers upsets No. 7 Maryland, 9-8, in Big Ten tourney

Hannah Leubecker fired a shot towards the net on the final play of the match with the Terps down by one. Goalkeeper Sophia Cardello confidently snatched the ball out of the air to clinch the Scarlet Knights’ upset victory. 

Rutgers defeated No. 7 Maryland women’s lacrosse, 9-8, in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals to knock the Terps out of the competition. 

Cardello recorded a season-high 15 saves and made several clutch stops late. 

“Cardello had a phenomenal game and I just would like us to be able to finish on the opportunities that we worked so hard to create,” Maryland coach Cathy Reese said.

Rutgers came into this match needing a win to extend its season. The Scarlet Knights played desperate from the jump as Cassidy Spilis netted a first quarter hat trick. Payton Tini also netted an early goal.

“Spilis just has a really high IQ,” Sophie Halus said. “She reads defenses really well and she’s really quick. If she catches the ball, she’s gonna score.”

The Terps started slow offensively, failing to score for the eight minutes of the game. Cardello frustrated the Maryland attackers with multiple stops, recording six saves in the first quarter. Eloise Clevenger scored the Terps’ only goal in the first quarter with a quick finish off a nice find from Chrissy Thomas. 

Maryland goalie Emily Sterling suffered an injury at the end of the first quarter after a hard fall during a save attempt. The Terps were forced to insert back-up Julia Hammerschlag into the match for the rest of the half. 

Sterling entered fourth in the country with a save percentage of .524.

Leubecker scored early in the second quarter and beat Cardello on a free position. Maryland imposes its will on the draw control, winning seven of the faceoffs in the first quarter. Libby May placed a shot perfectly in the low corner to beat the goalie on a free position and cut Rutgers’ lead to one.

The Terps’ dominance on the draw also helped Hammerschlag as Maryland was able to keep the ball on the other end and away from her for periods during the second quarter. She did face four free positions and fared well until the final eight-meter where Mikayla Dever scored to give Rutgers a 5-3 lead at the half. 

Sterling re-entered the match for the second half. Both sides struggled to create offensive opportunities in a defensive third quarter. Physical defensive play forced sloppy mistakes and a combined 10 turnovers from the attacking units in the quarter. 

May finally broke the drought with a catch-and-shoot score set up by an incisive pass from Thomas. Thomas was instrumental in Maryland’s attacking success, scoring on a man-up chance to cap off a 4-1 run from the Terps to tie the match at five all. 

“Chrissy’s really come a long way this season,” Reese said. “She’s kind of taking some of the feeding pressure off of Eloise [Clevenger] where she can find openings. So as we’ve seen this second half of the year come in, we’ve seen her really step up.” 

Spilis gave Maryland’s defense issues with her movement. She found an open spot and scored off a pass from Lily Dixon to put the Scarlet Knights back in the lead late in the third. But Thomas answered back with a second goal to retie the game. 

The back-and-forth scoring continued into the final quarter. Victoria Hensh scored a one-timer but Tini answered back to keep it tied. The Terps’ defenders gave too much space to Rutgers cutters near the net on several occasions. Ava Kane found an opening and scored a close range shot to give the Scarlet Knights a lead with under nine minutes remaining. 

Maryland had several chances to equalize but couldn’t find a goal. Dixon added another goal with the defense draped on her to extend Rutgers’ lead to two. 

Leubecker netted a massive goal to cut the lead to one and set up an exciting finish. Leubecker got two more dangerous shots but Cardello pulled off two spectacular saves to seal the win.