BALTIMORE – Megan Taylor felt like she was in a dream after leading Maryland to its second national championship in three seasons.
The Terrapins senior goalkeeper was named Most Outstanding Player after making 10 saves in Maryland’s 12-10 win over Boston College on Sunday before 9,433 fans at Homewood Stadium.
“Through the ups and downs of that game, we all embraced each other,” Taylor said. “We had each other’s backs and were all positive and were ready to execute and play Maryland-style lacrosse.”
Brindi Griffin and Grace Griffin (no relation) each had hat tricks and Jen Giles, Caroline Steele and Kali Hartshorn all had two goals apiece for Maryland (22-1), which has won 14 NCAA championships.
“You can’t really put this feeling into words,” said Steele, who scored Maryland’s first two goals. “We’re just happy to be here.”
After putting together its best offensive game of the year in a 25-13 semifinal win over Northwestern late Friday night, Terps assistant coach Lauri Kenis spent the next 24 hours game-planning for the Boston College attack and it helped Maryland produce its best defensive effort of the year. The Terps held Boston College (22-2) to its lowest output of the season.
“My defense today played out of their minds,” Taylor said. “We were all so prepared. Kenis, I don’t think she got any sleep honestly. She had so much film that was so helpful. We were prepared and ready to execute. They made my job so easy. They forced low-angle shots to a really, really talented BC team. They’re all offensive threats. To be able to hold that, I’ve been saying all year that I feel I play with in front me all All-Americans.”
Boston College’s big three accounted for nine of their 10 goals. Kenzie Kent led the way with five goals and an assist. Sam Apuzzo had three goals and an assist, and Dempsey Arsenault had a goal and assist. Lauren Daly, who came on in relief in goal in Friday’s overtime win over North Carolina, started her sixth game of the season and first since April 20. The senior, who played all 60 minutes of last year’s semifinal win over Maryland, made eight saves.
“It was a really good fight from my team,” said Boston College coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein. “I’m really proud of that. I wish I could have done more. It was a great team, and I’m proud of the legacy these guys have built.”
It was the third straight trip to the championship game for Boston College, which lost to Maryland in the title game in 2017 and fell to James Madison last year after knocking off the Terps in the semifinals.
“Of course it’s in the back of your mind,” Taylor said. “It fuels your fire. They took our season away last year. At the end of the day, they had more goals than us that game. Luckily we did the opposite today.”
Maryland did it from the outset. The Terps trailed for only 1:13 of the game. They jumped out to an 8-4 halftime lead with Taylor making seven of her saves and Brindi Griffin scoring her three goals.
“That’s something we wanted from the beginning, to come out firing and really having our foot on pedal,” Giles said. “In those moments where sometimes you can sit back and just kind of take it out a little bit and play not as aggressive, we didn’t want that. We wanted to keep attacking. Attacking was our mentality all over the field, whether that was in the midfield, offense or defense. That mindset really helped us.”
Taylor saved the first three shots that she saw. It set the tone for a day and made one final statement for the Tewaaraton finalist.
Said Steele: “Knowing we have literally the best goaltender in the nation in our goal and an amazing defense, knowing she’ll make the most incredible saves day in and day out, she makes every single one of us better.”
Taylor helped hold BC to 1-for-5 free-position shooting. Maryland caused 10 turnovers on the day.
“I think this is probably the best defensive game we’ve had this season when you know and understand the firepower that Boston College has,” Maryland coach Cathy Reese said. “Last year, we were really young and we had a lot of inexperience there. We grew as the season went on and obviously fell short. But that group continued to build as we headed into this season. We are pretty senior-heavy back there. But these guys continued to grow and get better as the season went along. The key is confidence. When you’re confident and prepared in what you’re doing, you’re willing to take chances and risks because you have people playing next to you that have your back.”
After Steele scored the first goal of the game, Boston College answered with back-to-back goals from Cara Urbank and Kent seven minutes into the action. But Maryland went on a 5-1 run over the next 17 minutes to take a 7-3 lead, and it maintained the four-goal edge at halftime.
Steele’s second score of the game got Maryland even again before Hartshorn raced in from the right side to give the Terps a lead they would not relinquish. Steele assisted Grace Griffin, who spun and fired it low to make it 4-2. After Taylor saved a free-position shot, Hannah Warther found a cutting Grace Griffin in front of the goal for Maryland’s fourth straight goal.
“I had a few good looks and I took my shots in the beginning of the game,” Steele said. “Luckily they fell. Firing shots at the goalie and looking for that net and getting our foot on the pedal and keeping it on the full 60 minutes is our focus.”
Apuzzo stopped the bleeding with her first goal of the game with 11:37 left before the half. The 2018 Tewaaraton winner and 2019 finalist ripped a shot in the cage after working to the middle to cut the Eagles’ deficit to 5-3. Boston College wouldn’t get closer until the final four minutes of the game.
Maryland waited only 40 seconds to answer. Brindi Griffin scored the first of her three straight goals when she came around from behind and stuffed it low. After six minutes of sloppy play by both teams, Griffin used a little side-step to score on a free position. And finally Catie May put a pass over the top of the cage to Griffin who deposited it for Maryland’s largest leadoff the game, 8-3, with 3:12 left.
BC appeared to gain some momentum as Arsenault found Apuzzo off a free position to bring it to 8-4, then the Eagles defense got a save from Daly in the closing seconds before halftime. Boston College had a 7-5 edge in draw controls but turned the ball over six times, including a shot clock violation in the final two minutes, and was 0-for-2 on free positions.
“When you’re defending a team like Boston College who has such powerful dynamic attackers — you’ve got two Tewaaraton finalist on the attack and Kenzie Kent and a handful of others out there that can score — we needed to make sure we weren’t leaving each other out on islands,” Reese said. “The best part of today was our doubles got where they needed to be, our slides got where they needed to be, we were able to crash to the middle and we were able to cause a bunch of turnovers.
“And Megan Taylor put the team on her back, and she’s making save after save after save, phenomenal plays. Her ability to shift the momentum, she can come up with a stop, and then our defense had to fight through a heck of a ride.”
The second half began well for Boston College, with Apuzzo and Kent doing some nifty back-and-forth passing before Kent sent in her second goal of the game less than two minutes into the half.
But just as quickly as BC seemed to spark themselves, Maryland added another score. Hartshorn’s second goal of the game came barely one minute later. Grace Griffin finished her hat trick to up the Terps’ lead to 10-5 with 20 minutes left.
Arsenault scored her only goal of the game as Boston College was more productive over the final 18 minutes. Kent went through Meghan Doherty for her third goal to trim the deficit to 10-7 with 17:01 left.
Two Tewaaraton finalists traded punches with Giles sandwiching her two goals around a third from Apuzzo to build the Terrapins’ advantage back to 12-8 before a late BC rally.
Back-to-back goals by Kent in 25 seconds made things interesting at 12-10 with 3:50 to go. It’s the closest Boston College had come since 19 minutes into the game, but Taylor wasn’t rattled in the least. She was trying to soak up every second she had left in a Maryland uniform.
“She’s just one of a kind and the best goalie in college lacrosse and the best goalie I’ve seen,” Reese said. “She can light up a room with her smile. She can make people laugh around her. She has the ability to reset when in cage.”
The Eagles thought they’d won the ensuing draw control, but it was awarded to Maryland. Daly gave BC hope when she saved a draw control and Maryland got its only yellow card of the game — compared to five for BC — with 2:09 left. Doherty, though, came up with a huge momentum changing play when she drew a charge on Kent with 1:10 left. Boston College only got the ball once more and could not get a shot off.
“Every person on our team has gotten so much better,” Taylor said. “Shelby Mercer today played out of her mind. She was a lockdown defender. Julia B. was always a lockdown defender. Lizzie (Colson), I can go down the whole list. Everybody just played with confidence.”
One final turnover on Boston College set off a celebration for the partisan Maryland crowd. The total weekend attendance of 17,941 is the fourth highest total all-time.
“We fed off of their energy,” Reese said. “Besides chanting our names half the, their energy and support for the University of Maryland is powerful.”