May 16, 2003
Final Stats|
Photo Gallery
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -
The NCAA semifinals were not kind to higher seeds or teams from Maryland as the second-seeded University of Maryland women's lacrosse team dropped a heartbreaker to third-seeded Virginia, 9-8, at Syracuse University's Carrier Dome. The Cavaliers move on to face unseeded Princeton which beat top seed Loyola, 5-3, in the first game of the evening.
Though it had beaten the Cavaliers twice before in 2003, the Terps (18-4, 3-0 ACC) were unable to hold off Virginia in the late going of the game they wanted to win most.
Maryland fell behind early in the game, staking the Wahoos a 4-2 halftime lead. But the youthful Terrapins -- who will return all but three starters next year -- stormed back in the second half. The team got going when sophomore Acacia Walker's errant pass bounced past her intended target then past UVa goalie Andrea Pfeiffer and into the net. The goal seemed to spur Maryland which then scored on three pretty goals.
The first came just :13 after Walker's goal as Laura Warren took the draw, fed freshman Delia Cox who found a streaking Kristie Leggio for a quick goal that tied the game at four. Just under three minutes later, Walker turned on the baseline and found a cutting Jessica Dorney who one-timed it for a one-goal Terp lead. The four-goal run was capped by another one-timer, this time when Warren assisted Leggio for her second goal in the string and the Terrapins led 6-4.
Virginia got back in the game with a pair of goals and at the 48:58 mark, the two teams were tied at six.
With 8:23 remaining, senior Sonia Judd got in on the act for the first time on the night as she scored on an unassisted goal. She put the Terps up two just 1:12 later after a nice feed from Walker -- her second of the night -- and Maryland was sitting on an 8-6 lead with 7:11 remaining.
The Cavaliers got a pair of unassisted goals from Caitlin Banks to tie the game. Virginia then had several chances to take the lead in the final three minutes but senior Alexis Venechanos made two big saves at point-blank range to keep the Terps in it.
The game winner ultimately came with just 1:33 left when UVa's Cary Chasney beat Venechanos before the Cavs won the game's final draw and ran out the clock.
In the loss, there were some notable efforts for the Terps, first being the defense's holding the nation's leading scorer -- Lauren Aumiller -- to just one point. Walker led Maryland with three points (one goal, two assists) while junior Kelly Coppedge, Leggio and Judd each posted a pair of goals.
Maryland is now 29-9 all-time against Virginia and 5-3 in the postseason. The loss was the Terps first in the NCAA Final Four since 1994 and they are now 34-10 all-time in NCAA play. The Terrapins' 18 wins this year was a seven-game improvement over 2002, the greatest one-year improvement in Maryland history since 1989-1990.
