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No. 1 Maryland women's lacrosse returned to the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex for the first time since March 5th, and the Terps clobbered James Madison, 18-6.
The Terrapins' last three games were all on the road against ranked teams. It was a grueling stretch in the schedule, but Maryland came out on top in all three contests.
The Terps had another strong first half. They took a 4-0 lead before James Madison rattled off three straight goals to trim the deficit to one. The Terrapins answered the Dukes' run with one of their own. Maryland scored 8 unanswered goals over the last 18 minutes of the first half and went to the break leading 12-3.
After Megan Whittle's fifth goal of the game with 22:56 left to play made it 14-3, Taylor Cummings got a hat trick off of a feed from Zoe Stukenberg with 18:37 left in the game. In a cool moment, Taylor's sister Kelsey, a freshman on the team, scored the game's next goal almost two minutes later. Stukenberg was credited with assists on back-to-back goals by the Cummings' clan.
Maryland and James Madison traded goals the rest of the way, but the Dukes scored two goals in the last 2:03 to add a purely cosmetic improvement to the blowout. Maryland (8-0) got a big win in front of its home crowd and raised a ton of money for a great cause. The Terrapins have been dominant this season and still haven't played their best lacrosse for a full 60 minutes. It's scary to think that this team hasn't reached its full potential yet.
Maryland will open Big Ten play at home on Thursday against rival Northwestern. The Terps have scored 18 or more goals in each of their four home games this season.
Three things to know
1. Maryland had a bigger win off the field
One of Cathy Reese's children, Riley, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes four years ago. Maryland women's lacrosse raised over $12,000 in the first-ever JDRF fundraiser last year, and the Terps raised over $10,000 on Saturday afternoon.
2. Megan Whittle and Taylor Cummings were dynamite...again
Whittle and Cummings each had five points. Whittle led the way with five goals, but Cummings had three goals and two assists to go along with her seven draw controls, four caused turnovers and four ground balls.
3. The Terps start Big Ten play next week
One of Maryland's biggest rivals, Northwestern, has struggled mightily this season. The Terps beat the Wildcats by double digits in both of their games last year. This year's game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network, and the network is going to broadcast an all-access special called 'B1G Close Up' in the lead-up to the game.