COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- After a marathon run across 5 states that covered 3,923 miles and 15 meets in 45 days, the Maryland Women's Water Polo squad returned to the familiar ground of the Eppley Natatorium on the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park.  With 3 losses from their road swing to the west coast where the Terps lost by a combined 5 points to the top-notched No. 11 UC Davis, No. 7 California, and No. 20 ranked Santa Clara, Maryland had their work cut out for them this afternoon as they competed against George Washington in a battle to make it back to a 0.500 record.  Coming into this evening's meet, Maryland needed a W to right the ship and return to an 11-11 mark overall on the season.

 

The Colonials came out swinging and assembled an impressive 3-1 lead by the end of the opening 8 minutes of play.  However, Maryland Head Coach Carl Salyer knew his team was capable of better play than they exhibited in the first period and challenged the team in the intermission.  Nearly drawing warnings from the referees for his vocal and stern demeanor, Salyer's challenges produced results.

Maryland's performance in the second period markedly improved.  Although the Colonials won the opening draw and swam the ball straight towards goalie Ashleigh Jobson, Maryland senior attacker Blaise Stanicic forced a turnover 10 feet away from the net that stifled the Colonial charge.  Capitalizing on the turn of events, Maryland's Christen Vagts forced a turnover at midfield and lobbed a quick pass forward to freshman utility Elina Goldenberg, who had anticipated the turnover.  Goldenberg spun, rattled off a shot, and made it count to cut into the Colonials lead.

With 4:33 remaining in the second period, Elizabeth Hopkins knotted the match at 3 apiece with a quick shot on goal.  Meghan Powers then put the Terps on top after hauling down a difficult pass from Claise Stanicic on the left wing.  Hopkins nearly followed with a goal of her own when she fired a missle of a shot from 10 feet out with less than 3 minutes remaining.  Charlotte Schou for George Washington came up with the save and sent Maryland back to their side of the pool up 4-3 at the close of 2 periods.

In the third period Maryland's Elina Goldenberg lobbed a soft shot past the goalie and Shannon Simerly danced on the left wing in front of Charlotte Schou feigning a pass before blasting a shot and notching a goal to make it a 6-3 game with 6:45 remaining.  A timeout by Colonials Head Coach Scott Reed couldn't stop the bleeding and it was Simerly again who recorded the gamewinner.  Squared away on the left wing, Simerly received a forward pass by Hopkins and quickly made it count.

George Washington clawed back to a 8-5 deficit to close the third but Maryland sealed the deal in the fourth with a 2-1 scoring advantage.  Hopkins and Goldenberg led the Terps in scoring with hat tricks and Simerly followed up with 2 tallies of her own.

Maryland returns to the road to face the Bucknell Bison on Saturday in Lewisburg Pennsylvania before heading to Princeton on Sunday to close out their regular season.  With the CWPA Southern Division Champsionships hosted at the Eppley Natatorium and the Terps currently ranked No. 20 in the country and lossless in their division, Maryland is likely to compete at home on April 18th at Eppley.