In thrilling fashion, the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team erased a six-goal deficit and powered back to defeat Northwestern in today’s National Championship game.

The Terps defeated the Wildcats 13-11 with three goals by Sarah Mollison, Katie Schwarzmann and Karri Ellen Johnson and two from Caitlyn McFadden and Brandi Jones.

The title is the Terps’ 10th national championship in program history and first since 2001. Northwestern has won the previous five national championships.

Despite allowing Northwestern (20-2) to run out to a six-goal lead to start the game, the Terps (22-1, 4-1 ACC) hung tough. Goalie Brittany Dipper helped lead the defense to shut the Wildcats out for 27:33. During that time, the Terps came back to take its first lead of the game off of McFadden’s goal to open the second half.

In contrast to the high-powered scoring feature in the first half, Northwestern slowed down the tempo in the second half. After Northwestern’s Alexandra Frank and Shannon Smith scored two goals to end the drought and tie the game at 10, the Terps’ offense came back alive. Jones and McFadden scored successive goals to seal the title.

Much more to come after the press conference.

Chris Eckard is the Diamondback’s Terrapin women’s lacrosse beat reporter. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com

I’m still trying to gather my thoughts through the first 30 minutes in this one.

Right from the beginning, Northwestern came out firing and caught the Terrapin women’s lacrosse defense out of position time after time. After it all, the Terps allowed six goals on the Wildcats’ first eight shots in less than 10 minutes. The Terps faced their largest deficit of the season and looked destined to get blown out.

Add that two Terps’ goals (Sarah Mollison and Katie Schwarzmann) were called off and the Terps had nothing going for them. But freshman midfielder Katie Schwarzmann and Mollison have powered an improbable and impressive comeback.

In the final 11:50, the Terps scored five consecutive goals to even the score at eight a piece.

But the biggest storyline today – 45 fouls. The referees have had their impact on the game throughout, as the 30 minute period took roughly an hour and 20 minutes to complete. The fouls and calls seemingly frustrated everyone involved – the Wildcats, Terps and the (most-likely) record-setting crowd.

Terps’ goalie Brittany Dipper seemed destined for an early pull, but worked with assistant coach Brian Reese during a media timeout half way through and hasn’t allowed a goal since. She has finished the 1st half with five saves.

Schwarzmann (three goals), Mollison (three) and attacker Karri Ellen Johnson (two goals) have been on fire shooting in the final few minutes.

Johnson has also played a huge role on draws, as the Terps have controlled three more than the nation-leading Wildcats. Northwestern has mostly used Danielle Spencer, but has also rotated Alexandra Frank in as well.

Also, Terps’ midfielder Caitlyn McFadden has rarely touched the ball on the offensive end for the Terps. Either Northwestern has shut the senior out, Reese is using this as a ploy or McFadden has become frustrated. Look for her to make an impact in the second half.

Shots: Terps 19, Wildcats 17
Ground balls: Terps 3, Wildcats 7
Draw controls: Terps 10, Wildcats 7
Free position shots: Terps 3/4, Northwestern 2/5
Saves: Terps 5, Wildcats 3
Fouls: Terps 26, Wildcats 19
Turnovers: Terps 7, Wildcats 4

Terps’ scorers: Schwarzmann (3), Mollison (3), Johnson (2)
Assists: Brandi Jones

Wildcats’ scorers: Erin Fitzgerald (2), Shannon Smith (2), Danielle Spencer, Taylor Thornton, Brooke Matthews, Amanda Macaluso
Assists: Katrina Dowd, Spencer

Everything the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team has worked for the past two seasons boils down to today’s game.

The back-to-back ACC Championships – a stretch of 44 games with only two losses. The undefeated season last year cut short by a devastating loss to North Carolina in the Final Four. This year – the questions on defense, the midseason loss to the Tar Heels and the No. 1 ranking and No. 1 seed.

Coach Cathy Reese knows the significance of today’s National Championship game against No. 2 seed Northwestern – she won seven as a player and an assistant coach. Midfielder Caitlyn McFadden does as well, winning an Olympic gold medal and almost every individual accolade possible.

During their four years together, McFadden and Reese have brought the Terps back to the national prominence the program is used to, but they have yet to play for or win a national title. Today’s game won’t be easy – the Wildcats (20-1) have won the past five consecutive national championships and avenged an early season loss to the Tar Heels on Friday night.

But Reese has prepared her team for this moment all this season – games at large stadiums, games on one day of rest and games against almost every highly ranked team in the country. The players are ready too. The team has been at Johnny Unitas Stadium since 3 p.m. today, jumping on the opportunity to get back on the field.

Without further ado, here’s some stats and facts to sift through before today’s game, which could be the most anticipated and watched in women’s lacrosse history – on any level.

- One of the biggest keys to this game will be, once again, the draw control. Attacker Danielle Spencer for the Wildcats is the nation’s best at winning draws. At 6′2″, she can flip the ball straight up to herself. Terps’ attacker Karri Ellen Johnson isn’t bad herself, and has dominated opponents this season before. The key for Johnson will be using her strength to prevent Spencer from winning the draw by herself.

- What defensive matchups will Reese use on Spencer and Womenslax.com Player of the Year Katrina Dowd? My guess would be that Reese uses McFadden (one of the best two way midfielders in the country) on Dowd, who has a similar style and build. On Spencer, Reese may use defender Karissa Taylor on Spencer. While Taylor doesn’t have the ideal size, she’s the Terps’ best one-on-one defender.

Road to the National Championship:
Northwestern (20-1) -
First round: Notre Dame (W, 19-7)
Quarterfinals: Duke (W, 18-8)
Semifinals: North Carolina (W, 15-10)

Terps (21-1, 4-1 ACC) -
First round: Marist (W, 20-5)
Quarterfinals: Penn (W, 15-10)
Semifinals: Syracuse (W, 14-5)

National Statistics:
Points – Terps (4, 431), Northwestern (1, 465)
Scoring offense – Terps (8, 14.43), Northwestern (1, 4.65)
Scoring defense – Terps (1, 6.76), Northwestern (8, 8.55)
Scoring margin – Terps (3, 7.67), Northwestern (1, 8.4)
Draw controls – Terps (29, 12.95), Northwestern (1, 17.55)

Previous National Champions:
1995 – Terps
1996 – Terps
1997 – Terps
1998 – Terps
1999 – Terps
2000 – Terps
2001 – Terps
2002 – Princeton
2003 – Princeton
2004 – Virginia
2005 – Northwestern
2006 – Northwestern
2007 – Northwestern
2008 – Northwestern
2009 – Northwestern

The Terrapin women’s lacrosse team is headed back to the national Championship game for the first time since 2001.

After an impressive 14-5 victory against unseeded Syracuse (15-6) today, the No. 1 Terps (21-1, 4-1 ACC) will face the winner of tonight’s game between North Carolina and Northwestern.

Midfielder Caitlyn McFadden scored four goals, attacker Sarah Mollison added two goals and an assist while attacker Karri Ellen Johnson scores two goals and ties a career-high with three assists.

Attacker Katie Schwarzmann came back from a lackluster performance against Penn and scored two goals and added an assist.

The Terps exploded in the first half to a quick 7-2 halftime lead, but the Orange didn’t give in. After McFadden scored the first goal of the second half, the Orange scored three straight to cut the deficit to three goals. But then Johnson powered the Terps with two goals and an assist in less than 1:30 of time.

Much more to come after the post-game interviews. (Plus Gary Gait’s comments regarding the vacant Terps’ men’s lacrosse position.

Chris Eckard is the Diamondback’s Terrapin women’s lacrosse beat reporter. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com

Against Penn last weekend in the NCAA quarterfinals, the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team had one of its worst draw control performances in half of the season.

The Quakers had taken control with an 8-3 draw control advantage, but still fell behind by two goals. Still, coach Cathy Reese and her Terps were not pleased with the showing. I’m guessing they’ve put some work into that this week.

The Terps completely outplayed Syracuse in the first half of this Final Four game and boast a 7-1 lead. The biggest reason? A 8-2 draw control advantage.

Also important, the Terps are getting everyone involved unlike the Penn game, where attackers Sarah Mollison and Karri Ellen Johnson and midfielder Caitlyn McFadden combined for 14 of the 15 goals. Today, Laura Merrifield scored two of the Terps’ first three goals, with Schwarzmann scoring the other.

On defense, Brittany Dipper has come up with a few great saves and Syracuse’s slow it down approach hasn’t warranted the goals it thought it would.

Terps’ scorers – Merrifield (2), Mollison (2), Schwarzmann, McFadden, Johnson.

Shots – Terps 17, Orange 9
Ground balls – Terps 11, Orange 8
Draw Controls – Terps 8, Orange 2
Saves – Terps 3, Orange 6
Turnovers – Terps 7, Orange 7

With the Terrapin women’s lacrosse game with Syracuse hours away, here are some Final Four statistics and musings to chew on this morning.

- The last time the Terps lost in the Final Four was last season against North Carolina. They lost 8-7 and the Tar Heels went on to get pummeled by Northwestern in the National Championship.

- The Wildcats, currently the No. 2 seed and set to face North Carolina in the second Final Four game, has won five consecutive national championships. Only the Terps, with seven straight between 1995-2001, have a better stretch in NCAA history.

- The last time the Terps were a No. 1 seed: 2001. That year was also the last season that the team has won a national title. They went undefeated that year but needed two overtimes to take down Georgetown in the National Championship game.

- Since that year, the Terps have not held supremacy in women’s lacrosse and seemingly handed the torch off to former-Terps’ player and current-Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. Here are the Terps’ end result in those seasons since.
2002: Quarterfinals (Cindy Timchal)
2003: Semifinals (Timchal)
2004: Quarterfinals (Timchal)
2005: First Round (Timchal)
2006: First Round (Timchal)
2007: Quarterfinals (Cathy Reese)
2008: Quarterfinals (Reese)
2009: Semifinals (Reese)

- Northwestern has never had to face the Terps in a national title game. Will this be the first season?

- In each of the past four seasons, the Terps have ended the season by tallying seven or fewer goals in a losing effort every time.

- Cathy Reese has won ACC Coach of the Year in three of her four seasons at the helm. She has also won back-to-back ACC tournament championships. But in her time, she has never won a national title or even advanced to one.

- Caitlyn McFadden has won back-to-back ACC Player of the Year honors and named to the Tewaaraton finalist list. She is one of the most complete players in recent Terps’ history and has even competed on the US National team. Like Reese, McFadden has never won a national title or even advanced to one.

- The Terps will lose several valuable seniors after this season, as well as McFadden. They include defenders Karissa Taylor and Abby Caso, midfielders Amanda Spinnenweber and Brittany Jones and attacker Kate Faas. While Reese will never admit this is the season to win it all, next year’s team won’t have nearly the same depth that it does this year.

I’ll be back with a preview of the game later in the afternoon. For all your Terrapin women’s lacrosse news check back here and on Diamondbackonline.com

Chris Eckard is the Diamondback’s Terrapin women’s lacrosse reporter. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com

With the Terrapin women’s lacrosse semifinals matchup with Syracuse just a day away, here’s a scouting report regarding the Orange.

No. 1 Terps (20-1, 4-1 ACC) vs. unseeded Syracuse (15-6)

Journey to Final Four:
Beat No. 4 seed Georgetown, 15-8 (First Round)
- Freshman Tegan Brown recorded a career-high seven points
- Third time the two teams had played, with the Hoyas winning the previous two
- Started fast with a 6-2 halftime lead and built on it in the second half
Beat No. 5 seed James Madison, 7-3 (Quarterfinals)
- Junior Liz Hogan registered 12 saves and broke Syracuse’s single-season saves record (202).
- The Orange held the Dukes scoreless in the second half
- The Dukes had won ten straight

The Orange are advancing to their second Final Four in three years.

Offense:
- The Orange are led by midfielder Christina Dove. The Bel Air, Md. native has a team-high 67 goals and 94 points.

Defense:
- One of the nation’s finest goalies in Hogan. The junior was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year and unanimously to the Big East first team this season.

Team Rankings:
Points – 438 (3rd nationally, Terps 4th)
Scoring offense – 13.43 (13th, Terps 8th)
Scoring defense – 8.62 (9th, Terps 1st)
Scoring margin – 4.81 (7th, Terps 3rd)

Recent past matchups:
May 16, 2009 – Syracuse 10, Maryland 12
- The only time that the two teams have played during Terps coach Cathy Reese and Syracuse coach Gary Gait’s tenures.
- Quarterfinals of last season’s NCAA Tournament
- The Orange scored the game’s first four goals, but the Terps responded with four goals of their own led by midfielder Caitlyn McFadden and attacker Sarah Mollison.
- With 15:57 remaining the Orange tied the game at 9-9. But minutes later McFadden scored two goals in 36 seconds. Midfielder Amanda Spinnenweber scored with less than five minutes remaining to seal the win and Final Four berth.

Random facts:
- The Terps owns the all-time series, 9-0
- Gait spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at Maryland, including all four years Reese was a player. He has been mentioned in the media this week as a potential candidate for the men’s lacrosse head coaching position in College Park after the resignation of Dave Cottle.

Near the end of the first half against Penn on Saturday, Terrapin women’s lacrosse coach made the surprising move to put defender Iliana Sanza into the game.

Not because of any lack of skill, but because a knee injury has sidelined Sanza the previous three weeks and seemingly for the rest of the season.

When she entered, the Terps held a two-goal advantage and Penn held possession. The Quakers looked to run the clock down and take the final shot, but Sanza stepped in.  At the left corner of the field near the Terps’ goal, Sanza caused a turnover and started a fast break opportunity just minutes after her entrance.

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This morning was the Final Four teleconference with the four coaches from each of the Final Four teams (the Terps, North Carolina, Syracuse and Northwestern).

Friday, the No. 1 Terps (20-1, 4-1 ACC) take on unseeded Syracuse in the semifinals in Towson, Md. at the Johnny Unitas Stadium. The Orange are coached by Gary Gait, a former Terps’ women’s lacrosse assistant coach.

He coached in College Park between 1995 and 2001, winning seven national championships during his tenure. Current Terps head coach Cathy Reese both played under him and coached with him.

Since beginning his coaching tenure at Syracuse in 2007, Gait has guided the Orange to their first ever Final Four. This year they return after knocking off No. 4 seed Georgetown and No. 5 seed James Madison.

Here’s what Gait had to say this morning -

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The stars of the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team came out to play against No. 8 seed Penn on Saturday and elevated the Terps into the Final Four for the second consecutive year.

Midfielder Caitlyn McFadden scored five goals to go along with three assists, while attacker Sarah Mollison also scored five goals. Attacker Karri Ellen Johnson scored four as the No. 1 Terps (20-1, 4-1 ACC) defeated Penn 15-10 at Ludwig Field on Saturday.

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