CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Virginia tried to stall Maryland's surging No. 1 women's lacrosse team with a surprise slow-down offense last night, but that didn't stop the Terrapins from taking a 13-3 victory and completing a regular-season sweep of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
On their first possession, the No. 3 Cavaliers spent more than four minutes working the ball around before they turned it over. Maryland's Allison Comito converted about a minute later.
That would be the story of the game at University Hall Turf Field -- Virginia working diligently for the opening to go to goal and Maryland converting quickly, often off one of the Cavaliers' 16 turnovers.
"We figured the longer we held the ball on the attack end, the fewer goals Maryland would score," said Cavaliers coach Julie Myers. "But we made too many mistakes. We had a lot of turnovers in the midfield. It could have been 2-3 at halftime if we didn't have those mistakes." Instead, it was 6-2 at the half after Kristin Sommar converted a 30-yard pass from Jen Adams with two seconds left.
Myers said she had wanted her team to take the last shot of the half, but Mia Mooney fired with 24 seconds left and Terps goalie Alex Kahoe made the save.
With the Terps off on transition, Adams was fouled, with five seconds left, near the sideline about 10 yards from midfield. She connected with Sommar on the long pass off the free position.
"Jen saw Allison [Comito] and I and we had a two-on-one with the Virginia girl," said Sommar. "[The defender] played me and she overcommitted, so I took it in."
"That really got us fired up," said Adams.
That spark helped the Terrapins (5-0) win the rematch of last year's national championship game, won by Maryland, 11-5. It also gave the Terps a 3-0 record in the ACC and the top seed for the tournament that begins April 24. The defending ACC tournament champion Cavaliers (3-1) drop to 0-1 in the ACC.
At one point last night, the four-time defending national champs scored six unanswered goals, beginning with Sommar's before the half and ending with the reverse combination -- Adams from Sommar -- for an 11-2 lead with five minutes to go.
Despite the initial surprise at seeing the Cavaliers, who usually like to strike on transition, playing the slow-down game, the Terps' defense held them to just nine shots on goal.
"They were trying something new to hopefully get us to be lazy and stand around," said Terps defender Tonia Porras. "At first we had no idea what to do, but we heard [coach Cindy Timchal] screaming to hold them and to be ready when they moved. We just kept our composure."
After their initial turnover, the Cavaliers did find the kind of opening they were looking for. Samm Taylor blasted by a slipping Christie Jenkins to bounce the ball past Kahoe 11 minutes into the game. That tied it at 1-1.
After another Virginia turnover two minutes later, Quinn Carney took a pass from Comito, faked the high shot and scored low to give the Terps the lead for good. Over the next 10 minutes, Carney, Courtney Hobbs and Adams ran the Terps' lead to 5-1.
"That first goal was exactly what they were looking for," said Timchal, "for us to come out defensively and them to get inside and get a quality shot off. I'm proud of my team. Some teams get frantic when they see that, but I thought we made the adjustments."
Pub Date: 3/17/99