Terps improve to 6-1 in Big Ten with 8-2 win over Indiana

On a sunny Friday afternoon with the temperatures in the low sixties, the Maryland Terrapins field hockey squad made their  first ever trip to Bloomington to take on the 19th ranked Indiana Hoosiers in the Terrapins' final road game of their inaugural Big Ten conference season. With wins in their last two conference games, the Terps would assure themselves of no worse than a tie for the conference championship. Maryland got the first of those wins with an 8-2 rout of Indiana in the second meeting all-time between the two programs.

First half - out of the gate early

Maryland has been a thoroughly dominant team through the month of October and from the opening possession seemed intent on giving the Hoosiers a lesson in big time field hockey. In a head spinning opening eighteen and a half minutes the Terps scored and scored repeatedly in almost every way imaginable.

The Terps needed barely three minutes to break the ice. Anna Dessoye scored on a penalty stroke following some aggressive play instigated by the combination of Maxine Fluharty and Moira Putsch. After about 10 minutes of some back and forth play, Carrie Hanks picked up the second goal of the day scoring on the second rebound off a penalty corner and a save by IU goalie Maggie Olson who suffered a slight injury on the play and left the contest for several minutes.

Backup goalkeeper, Katie Johnson, was in the game for a mere 55 seconds before Dessoye worked into some open space in the circle and rammed home a backhand shot to put Maryland up 3-0. Goal number four came in a more traditional manner off the Terps' fourth penalty corner of the half with Sarah Sprink scoring on a direct shot past Olson who had returned to the game after Dessoye's score. The junior drove the ball into the lower right hand corner off the insertion from Dessoye and the stop by Katie Gerzabek.

And still, Maryland wasn't done. Sprink's penalty corner score came at the 18:37 mark. Twenty-seven seconds later, the Terrapins led 5-0 courtesy of a creative drive along the left back line by Welma Luus. The South African senior worked into space and scored on a well angled shot.

Indiana managed to avoid being shutout scoring on their only shot of the half. That goal came on a penalty corner with just over five minutes remaining in the half.

Second half - Quiet and Cloudy

Some clouds rolled in at the beginning of the second half and, holding to a four goal lead, the Terps seemed content to wait until the sun reappeared before adding to their lead. Maryland failed to convert on either of the two penalty corners they generated early in the half but that didn't indicate that they wouldn't score because if the Terrapins have done anything in their now nine game winning streak, it has been to score goals.

Emma Rissinger opened Maryland's second half scoring in the fiftieth minute when she redirected a pass that Fluharty threaded through the Hoosiers' defense. Three minutes or so later, Shari Jones joined the scoring parade. Jones was the beneficiary of a fine pass from Luus that she deflected inside the near post.

In the 58th minute, Flluharty added to her team lead in goals scoring her 13th of the season. The goal looked similar to one she scored against Rutgers putting herself in the right spot to pick up the rebound on a penalty corner attempt by the Terps.

Leading 8-1, the Terps had a small defensive lapse that opened a chance for the Hoosiers and they managed to score their second goal on just their second shot of the game. The goal, coming with 12 minutes to play, would wrap the scoring for the day and the Terps wrapped up another dominant win.

Maryland returns home for a non-conference game against American University on Wednesday before closing the regular season when they host the Iowa Hawkeyes on the first of November.