After winning the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament last weekend and soundly defeating No. 3 Princeton Wednesday, what was left for No. 1 Maryland to do for an encore?
How about holding No. 5 Loyola to its lowest offensive output of the season?
For the fourth time this season, the Terrapins women's lacrosse team held an opponent under five goals, as Maryland defeated the Greyhounds, 12-4, yesterday at Curley Field. It was, however, the first time the Terps (17-1) had held a Top 10 foe to fewer than five goals.
Alex Kahoe made nine saves for the Terps, and defensive pressure especially from Tonia Porras, Tori Wellington, Courtney Martinez, Kerri Mulligan, Christie Jenkins and Kristin Sommar forced Loyola's shooters to go high or wide with many of their 23 shots.
"I think we ended really well," Porras said of her entire team. "Everything has really come together. We've been playing really well all season, but it's tournament time and we're that much more focussed. When tournament time comes around, we step it up."
The five-time defending national champions have won 16 straight games and should be top-seeded for the NCAA tournament, which starts May 11. As one of the top four seeds, the Terps would earn a first-round bye and begin tournament play at home on May 14.
Loyola also will be among the 12-team tournament field, having clinched a berth two weeks ago by winning the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.
Although their attack struggled yesterday, the Greyhounds defense appeared in top form, holding the Terps to their second-lowest offensive output this season. But the Greyhounds couldn't do much to contain Allison Comito and Jen Adams.
The junior duo combined for nine goals and 13 points. The Terps led from the time Comito fed Quinn Carney for a 2-1 edge 11 minutes into the game.
Still, the Greyhounds (13-4) never let the Terps blow the game open. Loyola was down 6-2 at halftime and 7-3 with 17: 43 left.
"Any time Maryland has a 6-1 lead, they get in this comfort zone," said Loyola coach Diane Geppi-Aikens, "and ... they can open up a game. That's what you try to eliminate. At 7-3, I thought we were doing a good job, but once they got to that 8-3 mark, that's a tough thing to come back from."
Comito boosted the lead to 8-3 with 17: 35 left after breaking ahead of the Loyola defense off the draw. Adams hit her with the long pass for the goal.
