COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Led by sophomore attacker Brindi Griffin on offense, sophomore midfielder Kali Hartshorn in the circle and junior goalie Megan Taylor in the cage, the No. 2 Maryland women's lacrosse team (12-1, 3-0 B1G) defeated Rutgers (6-8, 0-3 B1G), 14-8, on Friday evening. 

"It's always tough to have a quick turnaround like that, especially for a conference game", said head coach Cathy Reese. "But I thought we responded really well. Today, we chose to honor our eight seniors and they got a lot of playing time today. We saw a lot of good things from them. We had really good energy. Everybody loves to play for the person next to them and to see our seniors start on the field together and end on the field together was really special."

For the second week in a row, B. Griffin totaled a career-high five points, this time tallying a career-best three assists with two goals. Hartshorn led the team in goals, tying with junior attacker Caroline Steele with three scores, while winning nine draw controls.

In the cage, Taylor came in 19 minutes into the contest and shut the Rutgers offense down, only allowing two goals in 41 minutes while posting seven saves. Taylor and the Maryland defense have now held their opponent under 10 goals in six of the last seven games, all wins. 

Maryland started the night by honoring their eight seniors Taylor Hensh, Steff Holmes, Julie LeGar, Kacie Longo, Alex McKay, Emma Moss, Kathy Rudkin and Megan Whittle prior to the game. All eight started the game for the Terps, with Whittle and Hensh combining for three goals and McKay, Holmes, Rudkin and Moss tallying a combined five groundballs and three caused turnovers.

Whittle began the game with a goal for Maryland and added one more in the second half. The senior now has 50 on the season and is four goals away from the all-time lead at Maryland with 268. 

Steele and Hartshorn followed Whittle's first tally to put Maryland up 3-1. The Scarlet Knights stayed in it early, with the score standing at 5-4 Maryland midway through the first half. Following that, the Terps would score six straight ending the first half and into the second. Three of those were by Griffin's, with freshman midfielder Grace Griffin tallying the last of the first half and first of the second half and Brindi tallying her second of the day as well as her second and third assist. 

In the second half, Taylor held the defense down, just allowing two second half goals to Maryland's five. Rutgers only got off eight shots in the second half. Whittle and junior attacker Jen Giles ended the game with goals in the last 2:30 to make the final score 14-6.

The 2018 senior class that was honored today has gone 78-3 at Maryland, with a 43-0 home mark and two National Championships.

Maryland will travel up to New Jersey to face #20 Princeton on Tuesday, April 10. The game will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will air live on ESPNU. 

-Maryland-