With back-to-back losses fresh on her mind, graduate student Jordyn Lipkin took matters into her own hands on Saturday.
Her role has been significantly limited this season, relegated to a facilitator as her goal production has been cut in half. But in a breakout second quarter, the midfielder reminded fans why she starts on one of the nation’s best offensive cores. Lipkin tallied a career-high eight points in the outing — her final regular season game of her career.
Following two heartbreaking ranked
losses, the Terps returned to their usual form on Saturday as they closed out their regular season with a 13-9 win over Ohio State.
Maryland’s backline suffered from mistakes early on, but it was incredibly lucky at the same time. After giving up the opening goal three minutes into the bout, the Terps let up six shots in the next five minutes. Two shots found the post in the fourth and fifth minutes before a pair of clutch saves from JJ Suriano allowed Maryland to grab possession and find an opening goal through Keeley Block.
However, that luck eventually ran dry, as the Buckeyes pelted 13 shots in 15 minutes and turned that production into a 3-1 lead.
Kayla Gilmore’s late-season struggles from the draw circle continued, which made it difficult to maintain offensive possessions early. The sophomore recorded a season-low one draw control and was subbed out in the second quarter.
Despite her team trailing for the opening 20 minutes, Suriano was mostly solid in net. Facing 19 total shots on goal, the junior posted 10 saves and a 52.6% save percentage, a noticeable improvement from her showing on Thursday night.
Five minutes into the second quarter, Lauren LaPointe pulled off her bread-and-butter move. The attacker curled through X before taking a brilliant backfoot shot from the left side to tie the contest and notch her 51st goal on the year. Less than a minute later, she scored in nearly identical fashion to take the lead.
These scores lit a fire under Maryland’s offense, leading to a 7-1 run in the second frame. The lopsided scoring run was driven by a resurgent Lipkin, who scored two goals and dished out two assists in the quarter.
The drive was also enabled by a solid showing from the Terps on defense. Maryland brought out an improved man-to-man concept and employed it to perfection, allowing less than half the shots it did in the opening frame.
That defensive strongarming continued into the second half, as Gilmore picked off a pass from Ohio State’s Camryn Callaghan in the third minute of the third quarter. Just 38 seconds later, LaPointe scored, recording her 10th hat trick of the season. Six minutes after that, the Tewaaraton finalist netted her fourth following a caused turnover by Neve O’Ferrall to give the Terps a six-goal lead.
The contest saw a much more fiery Cathy Reese compared to games prior. As Devin Livingston’s goal to make the game 12-6 was challenged by Ohio State for dangerous shooting, Reese demonstrated her opinion to the referees, screaming and gesturing in a tornado of finger-points.
The challenge was unsuccessful, giving Livingston her third goal of the season three minutes into the final frame. This goal marked Maryland’s sixth scorer of the contest and tied its highest number of goalscorers since an April 4 match against Rutgers. This included four scores from LaPointe, along with hat tricks from Lipkin and Block.
Despite being outscored in the fourth quarter for the third straight game, the Terps built up a large enough buffer in the opening 45 minutes to secure a victory in their final regular season game.
Three things to know
1. Causing turnovers. Maryland’s backline needed a tune-up game after allowing a season-high 15 goals on Thursday. They got it on Saturday, only allowing nine goals while causing eight crucial turnovers and going 21-of-24 on clears.
2. Isolating scorers. One of Ohio State’s biggest strengths this season was spreading around goalscoring. While its top two scorers — Callaghan and Kate Tyack — each logged hat tricks, only three total Buckeyes were able to find the net.
3. Huge playoff implications. Maryland was in danger of dropping to fourth place in the Big Ten with a loss on Saturday. However, the win put the Terps in position to claim the regular season title if Northwestern were to slip against Michigan later on Saturday.
