Maryland used a strong team effort to defeat Boston College.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- No. 2 Maryland picked up a pair of clutch performances from its freshman class on Saturday as it edged No. 4 Boston College, 10-9.
Rookie goalie Emily Kift made three game-changing saves late in the second half and freshman Deb Milani turned the tides in the draw to keep the Terps (13-0, 4-0 ACC) undefeated in 2014. Sophomore Taylor Cummings posted three goals and added an assist to lead Maryland offensively. Beth Glaros, Erin Collins and Halle Majorana chipped in with two goals each.
Maryland kicked off the top-five showdown with a tone-setting 4-0 run, highlighted by scores from Glaros, Collins and a pair from Majorana. The Terps kept Boston College off the scoreboard for the first 13 minutes of the game until Sarah Mannelly gave the Eagles their first tally at 17:37.
Brooke Griffin gave the Terps a 5-1 lead with an unassisted goal at 10:40 before BC put together its best run of the period with a pair of scores with 8:06 and 6:17 remaining. Cummings capped the Terrapin scoring in the first stanza with a goal from Griffin with 3:35 to play for a 6-3 advantage at the break.
Mannelly posted the first goal of the second half with a free position score at 26:50 and jumpstarted a 5-0 Eagle run which was fueled by BC’s dominance at the draw control.
Milani was key to the Terps regaining valuable possession, helping Maryland secure the draw as the Terps were able to get back on the board with a Cummings tally at 17:47 to shrink BC’s lead to one. Glaros threaded the needle with an acrobatic, highlight-reel goal one minute later to knot the game at 8-8.
Cummings nailed a free position goal to give the Terps their first lead of the half at 15:30. Covie Stanwick answered for Boston College with an unassisted tally 21 seconds later.
BC utilized a lengthy stall tactic for nearly eight minutes and was ultimately denied a 10th goal by the rookie Kift, who mustered three consecutive saves to keep BC off the board.
Collins recorded the game-winner off a great look from Kelly McPartland with 4:19 to play to give Maryland the win.
With the 10-9 victory Saturday, the Terrapins held its 13th straight opponent to 10 or fewer goals. Megan Douty led the defense with two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
“I think that game was very fun for people to watch today,” said head coach Cathy Reese. “I give Boston College a lot of credit. Acacia (Walker) has done a great job with that team and they came in and fought until the very end and so did we, which was great. We saw a lot of good things from our team despite some challenges we faced throughout the game. It feels really good to pull away with the win against a good team.”
