COLLEGE PARK -- Teams with a No. 1 or No. 2 ranking are not safe when they come to play the Maryland women's lacrosse team.
Last night's 8-5 victory over No. 2 Virginia marks the third straight time the Terps have upset a Top 2 team at home in the past two years.
A patient offense, tight defense and a big game from goalie Allie Buote (10 saves) gave No. 4 Maryland its first win over the Cavaliers since 2003 in an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown before about 400 rain-soaked fans at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.
Maryland (3-1, 2-1 ACC) took a 4-0 lead and never trailed. Dana Dobbie's third goal, with 10:02 left, gave the Terps a 7-4 lead. They held on thanks to a slowdown and a couple of late saves from Buote.
The Terps have won 10 straight home games, including upsets last season of then-No. 1 North Carolina and then-No. 2 Duke, but they were more interested in bouncing back after Saturday's 14-13 loss at Duke. In that game, they gave up the winning goal with three seconds to go.
"Going into this game, we knew we had to be disciplined and controlled, coming off Duke," Dobbie said. "We made some unfortunate errors that we know cost us the game, and we wanted to make sure we came out from the beginning second and played disciplined and played poised all the way through."
Caitlyn McFadden got the Terps off to the quick start with a goal 30 seconds into the game. The Terps then settled their offense and controlled the ball most of the first 23 minutes as they took the 4-0 lead.
"Maryland started the game really strong, and they really never let up," Virginia coach Julie Myers said. "The controlled the tempo of the game, they controlled the possession time, they definitely controlled the draw controls. When the ball was down on the ground, Maryland was coming up with it."
With 9:05 left in the game, Megan O'Malley closed the deficit to 7-5 for Virginia (3-1, 1-1), but Maryland won the next draw and stalled for more than five minutes before the Cavaliers caused a turnover, although they could not manage to rally.
katherine.dunn@baltsun.com
Virginia 3 2 -- 5
Maryland 4 4 -- 8
Goals: V--Duff 2, McCulloch, O'Malley, Kalkstein; M--Dobbie 3, Cohen 2, Magor, McFadden, Spinnenweber. Assists: V--McCulloch 2, O'Malley; M--Dobbie, Cohen, Kasper, Princiotto. Saves: V--McBrearty 6; M--Buote 10.