COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Ranked #6 in the nation, the Terrapins used their potent offense to power them past an unranked UMass team, downing the Minutemen 16-4 in front of a home crowd on a sunny Saturday afternoon in College Park.  Despite only being ahead 4-2 at the half, the Terrapins offense proved to be more than UMass could handle, and Terrapins Team Captain #3 Caitlin McFadden led the way with a staggering 7 goals, 5 of which were scored in the second half.

 

Branded as underdogs, the Minutemen entered the game with the only hope for an upset centered on preventing the explosive Terrapin offense from getting the chance to get started.  These hopes were not enough though, as Maryland won the opening face-off and #23 Amanda Spinnenweber scored in the opening 16 seconds of regulation off an assist from #18 Karri Ellen Johnson to put the Terps up 1-0.

Despite this early hiccup, the Minutemen managed to execute their game strategy by consuming large amounts of time while on offense in an attempt to keep the Terrapins offense from getting warmed up.  During one such stretch, the Minutemen consumed an astonishing 13 minutes of play clock which resulted in no changes in possession and just a single goal to tie the game at 1 apiece.  Lead by McFadden, the Terrapins managed to score an additional three times before UMass managed to stem the flow with a goal by #7 Merritt Cosgrove with 00:22 to go in the first half off a free position shot.

Refocused during halftime, the Terrapins took to the field in the 2nd half, and showed just how explosive they can be.  The opening 20 minutes of the second half were largely dominated by repeated attacks by Maryland's trio of Midfielders – McFadden, #18 Karri Ellen Johnson, and #1 Sarah Mollison.  While McFadden only accounted for the opening score of the second half, Mollison & Johnson tallied five of the next six scores, in addition to two assists.  Sensing the game beginning to slip away, and with Maryland's McFadden out of the game to rest, UMass put together a cohesive attack, lasting several minutes, and # 6 Haley Smith managed to put an additional point on the board with 6:29 to go in the 2nd half, making it 11-3.

With fresh legs, and within 45 seconds of rejoining the field, McFadden entered the game and drove home an unassisted goal with 6:14 to go in the 2nd, then put the exclamation point on it with a second goal with 6:03 to go (assist by #4 Brandi Jones).  With the score at 13-3, Maryland began substituting out its primary players to allow its bench players time to play and gain experience.  Aside from a lone UMass goal by #23 Brittany Brigandi, the Terps managed to punch in an additional three goals in the closing minutes (one coming from McFadden with a mere 3 seconds left in regulation) to close out the game 16-4.

Maryland now prepares to face ACC rival and #8 ranked Duke on February 28 at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex at 12:00pm EST.