May 1, 2004
Final Stats
BALTIMORE, Md. -
The No. 4 Maryland Terrapins used stifling defense and 7-2 second half run to notch a huge road victory over No. 3 Loyola, 12-7, Saturday afternoon at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field.
The Terps got back to their offensive style of play using precision passing and getting numerous people involved. Brooke Richards, making her first career start, and Kelly Coppedge each had a game-high four points on three goals and one assist.
Six players scored at least one goal and eight of Maryland's 12 goals were assisted. Acacia Walker had two assists to go with one goal for the Terps.
The Maryland defense was equally as impressive, holding Loyola scoreless for over 29 minutes spanning the last three minutes in the first half until 4:09 in the seccond half. Kirah Miles made the difference in goal for the Terps, notching 14 saves and the defensive unit held Loyola's top scorer, Sydney Greene, two just two goals on the afternoon.
"This was an important victory for us against a really good Loyola team," head coach Cindy Timchal said. "We had a lot of players step for us today on offense and defense, but I thought Kirah was outstanding for us today."
The Terps again set the tempo early with a goal from Jessica Dorney just 35 seconds into the game. Laura Warren added another score for the Terps, but Loyola countered with a pair of scores to tie the score at 2-2. Maryland's Delia Cox and Loyola's Greene traded goals, before Coppedge and Richards put the Terps up 5-3 with 10:37 remaining in the half. The Greyhounds again fought back, though, with goals from Katie Guarino and Greene to tie the game at 5-5 going into the half.
After nine scoreless minutes in the second half, the Terps broke the game open scoring five unanswered goals. In that run, Coppedge, Cox, Richards and Laura Warren netted goals for the Terps to take a commanding 10-5 lead with just 4:21 remaining in the game. Loyola finally got on the board just 12 seconds later, but Coppedge and Richards added scores in the last minute of play to secure the victory.
The Terps benefitted from pressure all over the field, forcing eight of Loyola's 16 turnovers. Coppedge and Meg Mallon each caused two Greyhound turnovers. Conversely, Maryland committed just nine turnovers in the game.
Maryland will close out its regular season on Sunday, May 9, at home against George Mason.
