For the eleventh time in school history, Maryland hoisted the trophy after beating Syracuse,.
TOWSON, Md. -- An NCAA-record crowd of 10,311 watched a women's lacrosse game on Sunday night. Most of them, fans of the Terps, went home happy.
For the 11th time in school history, Maryland hoisted the trophy after beating Syracuse 15-12 in the title game of the 2014 NCAA Women's Division I Lacrosse Championships.
In 17 all-time meetings between the schools, the Orange have won just once. All three losses in 24 games in 2014 came to Cathy Reese's Terps.
"What an amazing night this is for the Maryland lacrosse program," Reese said. "Our girls came out and fought hard from the opening whistle to the end. Lacrosse is a game of runs and there were a lot of them [Sunday night]. We really stuck together and played the full 60 minutes."
The game included three runs of four goals, two by Syracuse and one by Maryland, and one five-goal run in the opening five minutes by the Terps."Three final fours already and this is our fourth, we didn't want to come up short in this one, especially since this is our seniors' last year," Beth Glaros said, who scored five goals. "Our offense was really working all together all night."
Junior Brooke Griffin scored a natural hat trick in the first 10 minutes of the second half to put the Terps up 12-7; the third goal came after a slick 360-degree spin just outside the goal crease to push her total to 62 for 2014.
Glaros, a native of Ellicott City, Maryland, nabbed her fourth with 13:56 to play to give the Terps a 14-8 advantage.
Tewaaraton finalist Taylor Cummings, also from Ellicott City, dominated the draws in the opening half and totaled three goals to finish her sophomore season with 63. Kristen Lamon also had a hat trick.
Cummings was named the tournament's most outstanding player.
"I think the draw controls were huge," Cummings said. "We came out fired up and ready to go, and we didn't want to play with fear. I think tonight showed what Maryland lacrosse is all about."
"It was obviously a tough way to start," Syracuse boss Gary Gait said. "But we kept our composure and fought back with four of our own. It is a game of runs. You have to find a way to stop those runs at three, but [Maryland] had two that were bigger than that.
"We did a much better job in the second half with our draw controls. If we could have been better in the first half it might have been a different story."
The Terps, and Cummings, won the first five draws and took advantage, building a 5-0 lead.
The Orange finally got possession and broke their early drought when Kayla Treanor, from behind the cage, twice, scored along with Cross to cut the deficit to 5-3 with 12:06 left in the half. Treanor, a Tewaaraton finalist, would not score another goal.
The Orange's other Tewaaraton finalist, Alyssa Murray, had a rush from the top of the formation to make it 5-4.
But, in the blink of an eye, the Terps responded with a trio of goals, two by Cummings. The first came thanks to a draw-control win and a 50-yard rush.
Then it was Syracuse's turn again, getting goals by Katie Webster and Bridget Daley for 8-6.
The Terps finished the half, as you might expect, with a Glaros goal and the two teams headed to the locker room at 9-6.
The Orange cut it to 9-7 early in the second half, but a run of four goals by the Terps -- Griffin's hat trick and one by Lamon -- and it was 13-7.
One final push saw Syracuse rally with Webster scoring a pair of goals to cut UM's lead to 15-10 with 5:41 left. Amy Cross scored 36 seconds later and it was 15-11. Murray made it 15-12, finding the bottom corner with 4:21 showing.
But a pair of turnovers all but sealed the Orange's fate as UM was able to run out the final two minutes playing keep away.
Despite a 12-4 advantage in draw controls, Syracuse still trailed by only three after 30 minutes. In the second half, the Orange won 9 of 13 draws. The Orange were whistled for 43 fouls.
Webster and Murray led SU with three goals each. Treanor and Cross each scored twice.
