The question was asked of Maryland head coach Cathy Reese following her team’s 9-6 win over Northwestern. Was this the case of the better team winning?
On paper, it looks like the answer is yet, but credit Reese for how she responded.
“Anytime you step on the field, you have to compete,” she said. “You have to compete and you have to play well and execute if you want to win. We knew that sitting in the Final Four with the four teams left standing, we needed to put together a full 60 minutes.”
Looking at stats, season results and Friday night’s eye test, Maryland and Syracuse (who beat Virginia 16-8 in the day’s first semifinal) appear to be the two best teams. It’s fitting that they’ll be meeting for a third time this season in Sunday night’s National Championship Game (8:30 p.m. on ESPNU).
These teams feature four of the five Tewaaraton Award Finalists (two per side) and own a combined record of 43-3 between them. Syracuse’s only two losses have come against Maryland.
The Orange took control early against Virginia on Friday, taking a 6-1 lead after Alyssa Murray’s third goal of the game. The lead swelled to 9-2 towards the end of the first half, but the Cavaliers answered with four of the next six goals to pull within 11-6 with 16:21 remaining.
Syracuse erased any doubt, however, with the next five goals to make it 16-6. UVA added two goals in the final 1:45, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Syracuse’s Tewaaraton Candidates Murray and Kayla Treanor combined for 16 points behind 10 goals and six assists. Murray led the way with nine points (six goals, three assists).Surprisingly, the Cavaliers didn’t double team the duo and they took advantage.
“[Virginia] decided not to double,” said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait. “They put their two best defenders on them, let them play and see what happens. Right from the beginning, they gave us those opportunities and we went after it. We were actually surprised that they didn’t double. We preppedfor that. When we realized they weren’t doing that, we said you two, take the ball and get it done.”
Get it done, they certainly did.
In the second game, Northwestern played its preferred (slower) pace for most of the first half and that led to a 2-1 lead midway through the stanza. That’s until the Terrapins caught fire, evening the score at the 12:29 mark which began a run of four straight goals heading into halftime.
The pace began swinging towards Maryland’s favor (faster) when the Terps started winning more draws.
“Once we started getting the draw, the pace was in our control because obviously they didn’t have the ball,” said Maryland junior Kelly McPartland. “It was our time to hold the ball and do whatever we wanted to do with it.”
Sophomore Taylor Cummings, one of Maryland’s Tewaaraton candidates (along with defender Megan Douty) did a good job at the draw against one of the nation’s best in Alyssa Leonard. That proved critical in changing the complexion of the game. Maryland wound up with a 10-7 edge in draw controls.
“Alyssa is great at the draw,” said Cummings. She holds a lot of records there. She’s really good at getting it up to herself. My mentality was to use our circle people, who come in fast and come in hard, then if that wasn’t there, our people on the 30 would be able to crash in. I tried not to get it up to myself because she’s so dominant with her one hand. I tried to make it a 50-50 groundball and I think my team did a really good job of coming in hard and winning those.”
Offensively, Cummings was held to just one goal on four shots, but that’s because she was faceguarded, even when she was on the opposite side of the field. That actually led to a more room for her teammates to work.
“I have never really been faceguarded like that,” said Cummings. “They were trying to stick with me the whole time. Our team was able to move around it, which actually opened things up for us and made it easier to dodge. I just stood at the top and watched my team do the work.”
The Wildcats scored first in the second half, but Maryland answered with the next three. Leading 8-3, Northwestern pulled within 8-4 with ample time remaining but the closest the Wildcats would get was three (9-6), which proved to be the final.
That officially set up a matchup between the top two seeds, the teams everyone “expected” to be here. Maryland won the regular season meeting (12-10) and ACC Championship Game (13-7). One thing is for sure. These teams will know what to expect.
For the Orange, they can hang their hat on their schedule. They are certainly battle-tested.
“It’s been an incredible year. We’ve played every team that made it to the Elite Eight,” said Gait after the Syracuse victory and before the Maryland – Northwestern game was played. “We are truly a tested team that’s played the toughest schedule in the country. Both the teams out there playing (in game two) are exceptional teams. We’re just looking forward to either getting a second shot or a third shot. If it’s Northwestern, we get a second shot at them. If it’s Maryland, hopefully the third time will be a charm.”
Reese knew going in that whoever they would play in a potential championship game would be tough.
“Syracuse is super tough, we have a lot of respect for them, but we did just face them a couple weeks ago,” she said. “Our focus isn’t about them, it’s about us. We just need to make sure we’re doing what we’ve done all season, executing our game plan and sticking with what we do well.”
The Terrapins look to avenge a heartbreaking triple overtime defeat to North Carolina in last year’s title game while the Orange fell 8-6 to Northwestern in 2012 and Maryland also fell to Northwestern in 2011 by a slim 8-7 final. One of these teams will break through on Sunday, the Terrapins looking for their first national title since 2010 and Syracuse eying its first-ever championship.
