COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- With 39 seconds to go on the clock and a tie game, Grace Griffin unleashed a top-shelf rip to give the No. 11 Maryland women's lacrosse team a 9-8 lead and ultimately the win over No. 20 Johns Hopkins on Wednesday afternoon. 

"What an exciting finish for us today," said head coach Cathy Reese. "We fought hard all game long. I'm really proud of our effort out there to overcome some challenging situations. We weren't shooting particularly well and had too many turnovers but defensively we played really, really well. I'm just proud of our group to stick this one out and play with a lot of heart and a lot of grit today." 

Griffin's game winner came after her fellow senior Brindi Griffin tied the game at eight with 2:48 left in the contest, her fourth goal of the day. The Maryland defense forced a shot clock violation on Hopkins ensuring position to give the Terps possession back, resulting in G. Griffin's game-winner.

The Maryland defense was fantastic all day, causing 12 Blue Jay turnovers and holding Hopkins to just three goals in the first half and five goals in the second half. Laurie Bracey had a career-best four caused turnovers and two groundballs to lead the way while Lizzie Colson also had four caused turnovers to go with five draw controls.

Hopkins scored the first two goals of the game before G. Griffin, Hannah Warther and B. Griffin gave Maryland a 3-2 lead. The score was 4-3 at halftime before Maryland extended the lead to 7-4 off goals from Hannah Leubecker, Catie May and B. Griffin. The Jays would then hold Maryland scoreless for 24 minutes as they scored four straight to take an 8-7 lead before the Griffin's played hero for the Terps.

Emily Sterling was fantastic in goal, making 10 saves, including two down the stretch to keep it a one goal game. Maryland won the draw battle 12-7, winning eight-of-11 in the second half, led by five from Lizzie Colson, including the draw to ice the game after G. Griffin's go-ahead snipe.

This is the Terps second dramatic finish against Johns Hopkins this year, with Hannah Leubecker netting an overtime winner in Baltimore to beat the Blue Jays 9-8 on March 12.

Maryland moves to 7-4 on the year and finishes the regular season 6-0 at home, the eighth time in the past nine seasons Maryland has gone undefeated in College Park. 

The Terps will wrap up the regular season on Sunday, April 18 at Rutgers in New Jersey. The game will start at 3:00 p.m.