March 27--It looks as if another Maryland women's team will dominate the Big Ten in its first season as a member.
Their basketball team went unbeaten in Big Ten play this season.
And the top-ranked, unbeaten Terps lacrosse team put on a clinic Thursday night to rout No. 4 Northwestern 16-5 at Lakeside Field in the sport's Big Ten debut game.
Maryland (10-0) was faster, more skilled, and tougher defensively, leaving the Wildcats (5-3) completely overmatched.
The Terps scored repeatedly on precision passing plays, utterly dominated the draw controls, 17-5, had a nine-goal run and played like a team that has all but two starters back from last year's NCAA champions.
They handed Kelly Amonte Hiller by far her worst of three losses in the seven games against her alma mater since she became Northwestern coach.
Amonte Hiller could not have been more accurate in saying before the game, "Maryland is the standard right now."
In a fitting commemoration of the inaugural Big Ten game, an occasional snowflake flitted through the 36-degree air at Lakeside Field.
Northwestern chose to play very deliberately rather than risk an up-and-down game. With Maryland's defense packed in, the Wildcats held the ball for extensive stretches before attacking.
The only way that tactic can be effective is with accurate shooting and success on draw controls.
The Wildcats managed neither in a first half that ended with the Terps ahead, 9-2.
While the game was close, Maryland goalie Alex Fitzpatrick, a grad student who had played at Lehigh, stopped three of Selena Lasota's four shots. Lasota would wind up with three goals and an assist.
A Lasota turnover started a run in which Maryland scored on five straight possessions in barely three minutes for an 8-2 lead. Sparked by Taylor Cummings, one of the best in the country on draws, Maryland won five straight, keeping the ball from Northwestern for nearly five minutes. Cummings scored three times by winning the draw and taking the ball immediately to net.
The final Northwestern gasp was snuffed out when aShelby Fredericks' goal that would have made it 9-3 early in the second half was wiped out for use of an illegal stick.
The Terps went on to score three goals in the ensuing 1:26.
