Box Score
Rutgers
1
3
#3 Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The top-seeded Maryland field hockey team scored twice in the first 90 seconds and never looked back as it beat eighth-seeded Rutgers, 3-1, Thursday afternoon in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.
Big Ten Player of the Year Welma Luus found freshmen Kelee Lepage and Madison Maguire for back-to-back scores to start the match. With the win, Maryland (16-3) advanced to the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals Friday at 4 p.m. in College Park.
“It's awfully exciting to get on the board so quickly with a few goals in the first two minutes,” head coach Missy Meharg said. “Coming from a day of school and having the tournament at home, I was a little concerned with how we would open up. I'm just really proud of the women for having such a strong mindset. It was a super game. We got a lot of people playing and our corner defense was very strong.”
Lepage deflected in a shot off the crossbar 25 seconds into the game off a pass Luus from the right side.
A minute and three seconds later, Maguire sent in a shot off a pass from Luus on the baseline to make it to a 2-0 lead, 88 seconds in. Maryland would lead 2-0 at halftime.
Sophomore Linnea Gonzales pushed it to a 3-0 lead for the Terps when she deflected in a shot by Carrie Hanks off a penalty corner in the 46th minute.
The Scarlet Knights (9-9) got on the board in the 65th minute when Alyssa Bull deflected in a shot off a penalty corner.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper Sarah Bates made three saves in the match.
Luus was named Big Ten Player of the Year and graduate student Grace Balsdon was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year the league announced Wednesday.
Both were named to the All-Big Ten First Team, as voted by the league's nine head coaches. Junior Lein Holsboer was voted to the All-Big Ten Second Team. With Luus' and Balsdon's honors this year, 15 Terrapins in program history have earned 20 conference Player of the Year awards.
Maryland is ranked No. 3 in the latest RPI and national rankings, available here.
Next, the Terps will play fourth-seeded Northwestern (13-7) Friday at 4 p.m. in the Semifinals at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. Second-seeded Penn State (15-2) will take on third-seeded Michigan (12-6) in the first Semifinal at 1 p.m. For tickets and more information, click here.
Fans planning to attend games Friday before 4 p.m. will be directed to park in lot 11B, the lot next to the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex, in the first row closest to the field. Fans parked in other areas of the lot or other lots may be subject to ticketing before 4 p.m. Overflow parking will be available in the Terrapin Trail Garage.
All lots will be free and open after 4 p.m. and for Sunday's championship game. Click here for a campus parking map.
Maryland's Semifinal game will be streamed live on the BTN2Go app, which is the official app of the Big Ten Network. Fans will need a subscription to watch.
Fans outside of the U.S. will be able to watch here, using their BTN Plus subscriptions.
Live Stats will be available and updates will be posted to the Maryland Field Hockey Twitter feed here.
DEFLECTIONS: The Terps are now 6-1 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament…Maryland leads the all-time series with Rutgers, 29-3-1, and has won the last 12 straight matchups, dating back to 1999 … The Terps are 110-34-3 (.759) all-time against Big Ten opponents… Meharg is 93-14-1 (.865) vs. Big Ten opponents in her 29 years at the helm of the Maryland field hockey program…Maryland is 157-17 (.902) in the 13 seasons at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex…The Terrapins are 34-1 (.971) vs. Big Ten opponents at the Complex…They have won 24 straight matchups vs. Big Ten opponents at the Complex…Meharg owns a record of 525-126-9 (.802) in her 29 years as head coach of the Terrapins.
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