The graduate attacker scored a season-high five goals in the Terps’ victory.
After a hard-fought 30 minutes, No. 2 Maryland women’s lacrosse pulled away from Georgetown in the third quarter, scoring six goals en route to a 13-7 victory.
Maryland started out fast with goals from Kori Edmonson and Hannah Leubecker, but Georgetown responded with a pair of scores from its midfield to even the game up.
That was as close as the game would get, though. The Hoyas didn’t tie the game thereafter, and were peppered by the Terps in the initial frame to the tune of 11 shots and five goals.
Riding a three-goal performance in her last game, Leubecker completed a hat trick only three minutes into the second quarter Wednesday.
“[Leubecker’s] someone that teams have to put a lot of attention towards,” head coach Cathy Reese said. “She can dodge — and she’s so explosive out of it — and can shoot. So that’s a really tough combination to defend.”
Hoyas attacker Gracie Driggs responded to make it 6-4, but not long after Leubecker countered with her fourth of the afternoon to give the Terps a 7-4 lead the half.
Two of Leubecker’s first four tallies came off passes from Eloise Clevenger, who finished the game with four assists.
After Brooks netted her second goal of the game to begin the third, the Terps flipped a switch. They scored six consecutive goals to go ahead by eight and all but put the game out of reach.
A big key to Maryland’s success in the period was to draw controls. Meghan Ball came up with a big control immediately after the Hoyas cut the lead to two, and Midfielder Shaylan Ahearn took over after that, finishing the contest with seven dubs. Ball managed five. Georgetown managed just five draw controls in the afternoon.
“I think a lot of times the momentum from our draw definitely generates more offense, or stops on defense,” Ahearn said. “It’s something that we strive to do every single time.”
While Georgetown netted two early goals in the fourth quarter, it only managed four total shots on the goal in the frame, not giving Emily Sterling nearly a tough enough challenge. The Terps’ goalie finished the game with nine saves.
Three things to know
1. A season-best performance from Leubecker. Leubecker posted a season-high five goals on nine shots Wednesday, and has now scored a hat trick in three of the past four games.
“She’s just super explosive. She’s not only dangerous in transition, she’s dangerous when we’re in settled seven-on-seven offense.” Reese said about Leubecker.
2. Eloise Clevenger continued to distribute. After her four assists against the Hoyas, Clevenger moved into the fifth all-time for career assists in program history. She has nine assists in her past two games, part of her 29 helpers through nine games this season.
“I see Eloise as a QB1. She’s like our point guard out there.” Ahearn said.
3. The Terps dominated the second and third quarter. While Georgetown was able to keep pace with Maryland in the beginning and the end, the Terps outscored the Hoyas by six goals in the middle frames.