The Terps lead Syracuse 7-6 heading into the half in what has been a crazy game so far at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.

The undefeated Terps, who crushed Colgate 15-0 in the first half of their first round game last weekend on the way to a 20-4 win, struggled at the start. Despite taking the first three draws, Orange goalie Liz Hogan and a swarming Syracuse defense frustrated the Terp attack as the Syracuse offense jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first eight minutes. Hogan has been the MVP for Syracuse for the half with eight saves against the high-powered Terps.

But after a timeout by coach Cathy Reese the Terps woke up, scoring the next four goals. Attacker Sarah Mollison alone had three, using her speed to cut past the Syracuse defense.

Then they traded goals back and forth, fighting for advantage, and it looked like they would go into halftime knotted 6-6.

But with seven seconds left on the clock, substitute Terp Kristy Black scored to give the Terps a one-goal advantage headed into the last 30 minutes.

kyanchulisdbk@gmail.com 

To say that Terrapin women’s lacrosse midfielder Caitlyn McFadden has had a good year would be an understatement.

She leads No. 2 Terps in points, helped lead her to team to an ACC Championship, earned the ACC Tournament MVP Award, and recorded four goals and two assists in a win against No. 5 Princeton on Saturday to finish out the season undefeated. And as if that’s not enough, today she was named one of the five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy, the award given annually to the best lacrosse player in the nation.

She is joined on the list by Hannah Nielsen of Northwestern, who won last year, Carolyn Davis of Duke, Amber Falcone of North Carolina and Jillian Byers of Notre Dame. Terp attackers Karri Ellen Johnson and Sarah Mollison were nominees for the Tewaaraton but did not make the cut.

McFadden leads the Terps with 77 points, including 48 goals and 29 assists. She led the Terps with four goals in their ACC title win against Duke. And she does not only have offensive prowess; she is one of the Terps’ best defending midfielders and has caused 17 turnovers this year, the third-highest total on the team.

“She’s a true competitor,” coach Cathy Reese said. ”She’s an outstanding lacrosse player and just a great leader on our team. When the going gets tough and someone’s got to pull the steam and put the team on their back, she does.”

When the NCAA Tournament seeding was announced Sunday night, it was no surprise where the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team ended up. The undefeated Terps (19-0) earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the undefeated Terps (19-0) behind the only other undefeated team in the country, Northwestern (19-0), in the 16-team field.

In their first round game, the Terps will face Colgate (14-4), the Patriot League champion and the No. 29 team in LaxPower.com’s computer ratings. The Terps are No. 2 in the same ratings. Though the Terps and Raiders have never met, Colgate lost to the only ranked team it played this season. The Terps boast 13 top 20 wins and outscored their unranked opponents by an average of nine goals.

The action will start at noon in College Park. The Terps would play either No. 7 seed Syracuse (13-4) or Boston (15-3) at home in the next round, neither of whom they faced this season. While playing at home should give the Terps confidence, as coach Cathy Reese has only one loss in College Park in her three years heading the program, that lone loss was in last year’s NCAA tournament second round.

But Duke, the team that upset the No. 3 seed Terps in last year’s tournament, is safely on the other side of the bracket this time around, joined by Virginia. No. 3 seed North Carolina is the only other ACC team in the half of the bracket headed by the Terps, but the conference rivals would not meet until the Final Four.

If the Terps do make it to the Final Four, not an unlikely scenario, they would still stay close to home, as the semifinals and final will be at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium May 22 and 24.