DURHAM, N.C. -- The No. 12 Maryland women's lacrosse team went on a 15-1 run to take a 17-4 lead and ultimately win 17-6 to defeat High Point and advance to the NCAA Second Round.
"First off, congratulations to High Point on a great season, this was a hard fought game tonight from start to finish," said head coach
Cathy Reese. "I was really proud of how we responded after the first media timeout, we started to really turn a corner. We started to become more detail focused and focus on the little things which made a huge difference. We shot well and shot our eight meters well tonight. Emily (Sterling) had some great saves,
Eloise Clevenger had her first career goal and
Libby May had a career night. So all around a great night for the Terps. We're really excited to be advancing and look forward to playing on Sunday."
After falling behind 3-2 early, the Terps rattled off nine straight goals to take command of the game and an 11-4 halftime lead. Maryland would then go on to score the first six goals of the second half to lead 17-4 and coast to victory.
The offensive stars were aplenty for Maryland. In her first career NCAA Tournament game, sophomore
Libby May recorded a career-best five goals, while her sister senior
Catie May recorded a career-best five points and matched a career-high four assists to lead the Terps. Senior
Grace Griffin also had five points (three goals, two assists),
Brindi Griffin had four points (two goals, two assists).
Freshman
Eloise Clevenger scored her first career goal to tie the game at three with 16:02 left in the first half and would go on to score and assist on another on Maryland's nine goal first half spurt.
Sophomore
Emily Sterling was fantastic in the cage, recording 11 saves, saving 73.3-percent of High Point's shots. Sterling tabbed eight saves in the first half to only four goals allowed, a 66.6-percent save percentage.
Today named Tewaaraton finalist
Lizzie Colson was key on the draw circle for Maryland, leading the Terps with seven, including four in a row in the first half to help spark Maryland's big run. Colson also had two groundballs and a caused turnover, the 100th of her career, becoming only the sixth Terp ever to do so.
With the win, Maryland (10-6) advances to the NCAA Second Round for the 14th-straight season and will face No. 7 Duke on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN3.
