The Maryland women's lacrosse team has won five consecutive national championships. And Friday night at Koskinen Stadium, the Terrapins reminded everyone of how that happened.
Despite falling behind 8-4 at the half, the top-ranked Terrapins outscored No. 2 Duke 10-2 in the final 30 minutes to claim a 14-10 victory in this clash of titans. The Blue Devils (2-1) were able to rebound Sunday afternoon with a home victory over Johns Hopkins (0-2) by a count of 16-6.
Maryland (1-0) ran its fast-breaking style offense to near perfection in the second half, converting on nearly every opportunity at the net.
"They're a fast team, but the way they play aids them in their ability to beat teams with their speed," coach Kerstin Kimel said. "They pull all their attackers up to the restraining line and as soon as there is a turnover, it's off to the races.... Their speed was a factor, but it was more their style that hurt us."
The Terrapin comeback started when Allison Comito found the back of the net 1:58 into the second half. Four minutes later, Quinn Carney found an opening near the crease and scored to cut the Blue Devil advantage to 8-6.
After a five-minute drought, Maryland notched two goals in less than a minute to tie the contest at 8-8. Then, with 13:40 remaining, Carney scored the second of her three goals to give the Terrapins their first lead of the night.
Kate Kaiser, who led Duke with three goals, looked to bring her team back to life, as she answered with a goal of her own to even the score at 9-9 with 12:19 to play.
At this point, Maryland dealt its knockout blow, scoring four unanswered goals over the next nine minutes to take a 13-9 lead with just over three minutes left in the game.
"To Maryland's credit, they came out really strong in the second half," Kimel said. "But we got a little tentative. We didn't handle the ball really well in the mid-field, and Maryland forced some turnovers that allowed them to play their run-and-gun style game."
The Blue Devils started the contest with strong play. Claire Sullivan converted on a free-position opportunity just 56 seconds into the game to give Duke a 1-0 lead. Tricia Martin bumped the Blue Devil advantage to 2-0 with a one-on-one move 2:28 later.
After Maryland knotted the game at 3-3, Duke scored five of the next six goals, including an acrobatic shot by Kelly Dirks from her knees, to take an 8-4 lead into halftime.
"What we saw in the first half is what we are capable of doing," Kimel said. "For us, it creates a level of what we need to work for, more than anything we can do in practice. It is a good challenge for us to try to play like we did in the first half for 60 minutes."
The Blue Devils were out-shot 34-19 by the Terrapins, and Maryland controlled 23 ground balls to the Blue Devils' 8.
While Duke managed to contain All-American Jen Adams, it certainly did not stop her, as she netted three goals and dished out two assists.
The Blue Devils regrouped before returning to the field Sunday to take on Johns Hopkins. Duke came out of the gates flying, as it scored four goals in the opening 2:39 of the game.
After the Blue Jays rallied to cut the Blue Devil lead to 4-3, Duke answered with five straight goals, two of which were scored by Dirks, to blow open the game at 9-3.
"I was pretty happy with the kids in that they came out and really gave a strong effort the whole game," Kimel said. "This was great because we were able to play a lot of people. The best way to improve our bench is to get them some minutes and experience in games, not just practice."
Eight different Blue Devils netted goals, with Dirks leading the way with five. In addition, Duke tallied 10 assists, nine more than it had Friday night vs. the Terrapins.
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