Terps Women’s Field Hockey Completes Upset
Tuesday night the Maryland Terrapins women’s field hockey team won their third straight game against a ranked opponent and fifth straight game overall, defeating the third ranked Virginia Cavaliers, 5-4. On Friday, the Terps beat the number twenty-five ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, Saturday Maryland defeated the number six ranked Penn State Nittany Lions, and then went on to defeat the third ranked Virginia Cavaliers on Tuesday.
Playing three games in five days is tough enough. But three in five days against ranked opponents? That is a test of determination and hard-work. The Terps’ ladies passed that test.
Virginia began the scoring with a goal by Izzy McDonough from a rebound off of a penalty just four minutes into the game. A little over three minutes later Maryland Sophomore Linnea Gonzales brought the game even when she ripped a shot from the top of the circle. In the sixteenth minute Freshman Kyler Greenwalt scored the first of her two goals of the game. She too put a rebound into the net off of a penalty.
Maryland’s leading scorer Lein Holsboer, also got in on the fun in the thirty-first minute when she scored from the left post after inserting on a penalty corner. A little less than two minutes later Junior Melissa Wilken directed in a shot from Kelee Lepage as the Terps took a 4-1 lead into halftime.
In the forty-ninth minute Kyler Greenwalt added her second goal of the game when she found the loose ball and tapped into the net, extending Maryland’s lead to 5-1 with only twenty-one minutes to play. Virginia did not go down without a fight however. With eleven minutes remaining, Virginia’s Greta Ell scored and made it a three point game. With only a 1:46 left in the match Virginia was awarded a penalty corner off of which Dominique van Slooten scored to cut the Terp’s lead to two. Another penalty was awarded to the Cavaliers just thirty-eight seconds later where again Greta Ell scored and made what was a comfortable lead into a one score game.
But the Terps held on for the final 1:04 to secure their fifth straight victory. Maryland outshot Virginia 21-13 and Junior goalkeeper Sarah Holliday made five saves. Maryland’s defense also held the country’s leading scorer Tara Vittese scoreless.
The number twelve ranked Maryland Terrapins (11-5) close out their regular season Sunday with another ranked opponent, as they travel to New Jersey to take on the number twenty-first ranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-6). The match will be televised live on the Big Ten Network at one pm.
