No. 1 UMD WLAX blasts No. 18 Hopkins, 17-9

Time to Get Defensive

This game looked liked it might be a defensive battle with Hopkins sporting the nation's fourth best scoring defense and Maryland bringing the nation's fifth best scoring defense into Baltimore. That would not be the case.

First Half

Taylor Cummings got Maryland on the board at the 29:08 mark as Kelly McPartland found her in stride in the middle of the Hopkins defense. Maryland won the first two draws and Brooke Griffin scored low less than 20 seconds later to give Maryland a 2-0 lead. Hopkins took it away from Zoe Stukenberg as Maryland looked to make it three straight. Hopkins got on the board at 25:48 as CeCe Finney scored.

Maryland got the draw but turned it over on offense again and the Blue Jays took over. Maryland forced a turnover and went out on the break. Cummings found Megan Whittle, who drew an eight meter. She missed the shot but Maryland retained possession. Cummings broke her defender down one on one. Her initial shot was saved but Cummings grabbed the rebound and finished with just over 22 minutes left to play in the first half.

Maryland won yet another draw and Stukenberg went left and fired an absolute rocket into the right corner of the net for her 25th goal of the season to give Maryland a 4-1 lead. The Terps corralled the next draw but turned it over in the Hopkins third. Douty got the Maryland fast break going as the defense held firm. Kelly McPartland scored off of an eight meter to make it 5-1 with just over 18 minutes left to play in the first half.

Hopkins finally picked up their first draw control of the evening after the TV timeout. Alex Fitzpatrick made a save on a Blue Jay free position shot and Maryland was back on the attack. Blue Jay goalie KC Emerson stepped up for Hopkins and got them the ball back. Alice Mercer knocked down Dene` DiMartino, who scored to bring Hopkins back within three. DiMartino extended her streak of games with at least one point to 30. Griffin scored her second goal of the game seconds later as Cummings got the draw and threw a long pass to her behind the entire Blue Jay defense. Griffin went one on one with Emerson, faked her out and easily finished.

Cummings couldn't handle a pass and Maryland had their third turnover of the game. Hopkins took advantage as DiMartino got her second goal of the game, and 30th of the season, while falling down again. Griffin got a ground ball near the goal on the offensive end on the next trip down and finished for the hat trick. Like DiMartino, it was her 30th goal of the year. With 8:16 left in the first half, Maryland led 7-3. Maryland won the draw control out of the TV timeout and McPartland got a free position. Emerson made another very good stop on defense for Hopkins. Megan Douty made it look easy on the other end for Maryland by picking off a pass in space and giving the Terps the ball back.

Emerson made another great save on Cummings but Maryland forced Emerson out of the goal, forced her into a turnover and Griffin picked it up and scored on the open goal for her fourth goal of the game. Hopkins took a timeout with 1:16 left in the half trailing 8-3. Jen Cook scored out of the timeout to close the gap to four. Hopkins won the next draw and held for the last shot. Douty forced a turnover and Maryland got out and ran. Alice Mercer turned on the jets and found Zoe Stukenberg, who finished in traffic with about a second left to make it 9-4 going into halftime.

While Griffin had four goals in the half, Cummings had two goals, two assists, five draw controls and a ground ball. The Terps dominated on the draw, holding a 10-3 edge in the half and they beat Hopkins 10-4 in ground balls as well. Douty was dynamite on defense, forcing two turnovers and grabbing two ground balls. On offense, Maryland peppered KC Emerson with 21 shots. Hopkins had a great opportunity to try and make it 8-5 going into halftime but they squandered it as they turned the ball over. Maryland got out on the break and scored just as the clock expired to steal back any momentum that Hopkins had gotten.

Second Half

Hopkins scored a pretty goal to strike first in the second half as DiMartino flipped the ball to Haley Schweizer, who took an end around to bring the score back to within four. Maryland got it right back as Whittle split the Hopkins defense and finished for her 50th goal of the season with 26:34 left to play. Hopkins kept throwing different looks at Cummings in the draw circle but it didn't matter as Maryland captured the third straight draw of the half.

Erin Collins got a feed from McPartland and scored on the left side to make it 11-5. Coming into this game, Hopkins only allowed one team to score double digits against them. Maryland became the second team to hit that mark against the Blue Jays. Caroline Federico came in to relieve Emerson in goal for Johns Hopkins.

DiMartino got called for a charge on the offensive end and Whittle earned an eight meter on the other end. She finished it off for her second goal of the game to give Maryland a seven goal lead. Cummings took a shot and Federico saved it but Cummings got it back. Federico came up big again to get Hopkins the ball back and Kristen Cannon scored to make it 12-6 with just under 16 minutes to play.

Cummings got the draw and took it herself, finishing to get a hat trick as she scored her 47th goal of the year. Schweizer took a tough angle on the right side and finished with Erin Collins all over her to trim the lead back to six. Maryland had only allowed four teams to score more than seven goals this season and Hopkins was right on the doorstep. Federico made another save to give Hopkins a shot to get it down to five but Douty and the Maryland defense got it back for the Terps.

Stukenberg jumped and scored in traffic to get a hat trick with 12:07 left in the game. Shannon Fitzgerald also took a tough angle down the right side and finished with a great bounce shot to beat Alex Fitzpatrick. While Maryland had no problem scoring on the nation's fourth-ranked scoring defense, Hopkins is only the fifth team this season to break the seven goal barrier against Maryland.

Megan Whittle became the fourth Terp to get a hat trick as she made it 15-8 and Griffin added her fifth of the game minutes later. Cummings scored her fourth goal of the game with 3:46 left to play to make it 17-8. Hopkins got it back as Finney scored after a Fitzpatrick save. Nadine Hadnagy got a yellow card with 1:26 left but the game was well in hand for Maryland. Even though they were down a man, Maryland got the ball back and ran out the clock.

Recap

Maryland dominated Johns Hopkins on the draw, 20-7, and out-shot the Blue Jays 36-21. Maryland won the draw control battle 10-3 in the first half and 10-4 in the second half. You can't beat a team that's as good as Maryland when you give them that many possessions on offense. Maryland did have a slightly worrisome eight turnovers in the game and the majority of those came on the offensive end. Maryland could have probably scored at least 20 goals tonight if they hadn't been so sloppy with the ball.

Maryland got started fast tonight and never looked back. Zoe Stukenberg's goal just before the clock expired in the first half gave Maryland a five goal lead and a nice momentum boost going into the second half. Hopkins never quit and kept fighting right until the end but it never felt as if Maryland was in danger in the second half after the Terps countered Schweizer's early goal with a 3-0 run of their own.

Bottom Line

Another top-20 opponent bites the dust against the Terps. The offense looked great as four Maryland players had hat tricks. Griffin and Cummings combined for nine goals while Whittle and Stukenberg had three apiece. Whitle didn't get going until the second half but the Terps kept trying to get her the ball. The defense was exposed a little in the second half but all in all, it was a very workman-like performance for the Terps.

The bottom line is that Maryland is two games closer to finishing off a perfect regular season. That goal of repeating as national champions is getting tantalizingly close.

Maryland has a chance to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title this weekend at home against Michigan and then (if they beat the Wolverines) they can win it outright next Thursday on Senior Night against Penn State. Two more regular season games and both are at home. These games are merely stepping stones to Maryland's goal for a second consecutive national championship.