Women's Lacrosse Advance to NCAA Championship Game
6/21/1999 8:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
May 16, 1998
BALTIMORE, MD -- The third time was the charm for Maryland. The Terps (17-3), who had lost to North Carolina twice this season, finally figured out the Tar Heels (15-3) on Friday night in a semifinal game at the NCAA national collegiate women's lacrosse tournament. Third-seeded Maryland broke a 7-7 tie with a 4-0 run early in the second half and then held on for a 14-9 victory in front of 2,756 fans at UMBC Stadium.
Maryland will go for its fourth straight national championship on Sunday at 3 p.m. against Virginia, which beat Dartmouth 10-7 in Friday's other semifinal. The Terps beat the Cavaliers 11-8 when the ACC rivals met on March 18.
Senior attacker Cathy Nelson led the Terps with four goals and senior Sascha Newmarch added three.
Maryland took the lead for good when sophomore Christie Jenkins scored unassisted with 21:31 left in the second half. The Terps added three goals to go up 11-7 with just over 13 minutes remaining.
After a North Carolina timeout, the Tar Heels responded with a pair of goals to cut the lead to 11-9. But Carolina couldn't get any closer as the Terps closed out the game with a 3-0 run. The Tar Heels had beaten the Terps 10-9 in the regular season and 12-10 in the ACC Tournament. North Carolina controlled the early action before running into trouble. The Tar Heels held a 3-1 lead after Sarah Dacey put a shot between the feet of Maryland goalie Alex Kahoe with 16:09 left in the first half. But the Terps' Australian midfielder Sascha Newmarch led a Maryland rally by scoring three straight goals in a little over a minute. Newmarch's scoring burst was part of a 6-0 Maryland run that gave the Terps a 7-4 lead going into the half.
Maryland will look to set yet another record, becoming the first team in history to record four back-to-back National Championships. The Terps made history last year winning their third consecutive.
