SPECIALTY PROTECTION
WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A crisp March day in College Park saw the Terrapins of Maryland and the Cavaliers of Virginia face off in an ACC battle between two teams in the top 5. UVA came into this game undefeated and ranked #1 in the nation, while UMD stood at #4 with a 6-2 record. The biggest number in this game however, was #49, the number of Terrapin redshirt junior goalie Jason Carter. Carter was hot all day, which combined with some solid defense in front of him, kept UVA out of double digits for the first time this season. The other story of this game was the performance of Maryland freshman attackman Travis Reed, who poured in 3 goals and 2 assists. All together, the Terps came out firing while the Cavs struggled from the get go. This led to Maryland pulling off an impressive 13 to 7 upset of Virginia.
The opening face off of the game belonged to Virginia, but they would get turned away by two Jason Carter saves. Maryland freshman Ryan Young would open the scoring with a flat-out sprint from back left that allowed him to tuck the ball around freshman goalie Adam Ghitelman. Maryland would not wait long to strike again as UVA moved early on the ensuing face off which led to a Jeff Reynolds’ goal courtesy of sophomore Bryn Holmes. On UVA’s next possession, Jason Carter would assert himself again as he rejected a Ben Rubeor behind the back shot on the doorstep. Fifteen seconds later, Jeff Reynolds would find the back of the net again, on another big righty shot from out front. With the score 3 to nothing and Virginia’s Ghitelman yet to record a save, it looked like the young freshman may have been a deer in the headlights, but he snapped out of it at around the 7:40 mark with a great low save, on a shot by Maryland long pole Brian Farrell. Meanwhile, UMD’s Carter continued his hot play stoning two more great looks from senior player of the year candidate Ben Rubeor. Senior middie Peter Lamade got UVA on the board at the 3:34 mark with an unassisted righty jump shot from the left wing that went high to high over the shoulder of the Maryland goalie. This would end the scoring for the quarter with Maryland up 3 to 1.
Not long after the start of the second quarter, UVA looked to close the gap after a questionable tripping penalty gave them a 30 second extra man opportunity. With the performance of UVA’s man-up unit, converting an absurd 69%, this looked like the break that would get the Cavs back in the game. But again #49 stood in UVA’s way, easily handling a crank from top center. The next tally came off the stick of Maryland freshman Travis Reed. At the 11:30 mark Reed snapped a quick low to high wrist shot that the Cavalier goalie did not see until it was too late. The following face off brought more bad news for the Cavaliers as Senior Will Dalton pulled the face off to himself and took the ball all the way for Maryland’s 4th goal of the game just 6 seconds later. Another Maryland penalty, an illegal body check, would allow the Cavs to flex their EMO muscle. After some crisp passing from the UVA man-up, a cutting Brian Carroll finished a feed from Danny Glading with a nice turn and shoot that nestled into the goal, just inside the far pipe. However, for the second time, Maryland face off man Will Dalton pulled the ball to himself, igniting a fast break. This time he drew the slide and worked the classic 4 on 3 fast break to Ryan Young, who in turn made the diagonal feed to Travis Reed for another Maryland score just seven seconds after Virginia’s tally. The scoring did not end there as the Terrapins rattled off three more goals, one each by Travis Reed, Rob Morrison, and Tony Mendes. The most impressive of which came from the highly touted freshman, Mendes, who drove from the right GLE and blew a right-handed jump shot past Ghitelman five-hole. With 2:35 remaining in the half, UVA Coach, Dom Starsia called a timeout to settle his troops down and get something positive going in for the half, which he got in the form of another Peter Lamade goal off of an assist by Ben Rubeor. UVA would get one more man-up opportunity before half, but the iron was unkind to Ben Rubeor, and Maryland was able to get possession and avoid a face off to start the second half.
The start of the second half brought a new strategy from Terp Coach Dave Cottle, he stuck with his starting goalie. Cottle had been alternating halves between Carter and sophomore Brian Phipps, but today he chose to stick with the hot hand and keep Carter between the pipes. Looking at their first loss of the year, the Cavaliers responded with their first consecutive goals of the day. While Maryland started the second half with possession, they were unable to hang onto the ball and thus UVA was able to work the ball down and beat Maryland’s man coming out of the box after the penalty expired. Senior Ben Rubeor showed why he is one of the most feared lefty snipers in the sport today with a bullet from the left wing. This goal came just 30 seconds into the period and it looked like the Cavs might shake off their poor first half and mount a comeback. They would strike again at 10:04 with a ridiculous bounce shot from UVA freshman Rhamel Bratton that lost about 15 mph after its bounce. The Terp goalie looked like he was swinging at a Johan Santana changeup. However, the momentum would not last as Maryland would score the next two goals. Redshirt junior Jeff Reynolds would net his third goal of the day, giving him hat tricks in consecutive games, while freshman attackman Grant Catalino notched his first points of the day. UVA had a little more fight in them though, as Rhamel Bratton found the back of the net for the second time this quarter thanks to an assist from senior midfielder Jack Riley. The third quarter would draw to a close with UVA cutting the lead from 6 goals to 5.
With one more quarter to make up the difference, UVA needed to come out storming if they were going to have a shot in this game. They did well to scrap for the opening face off, but luck would have it that the ball fell to Maryland’s Travis Reed, who would find Grant Catalino on the doorstep. The 6’5” freshman scored it with a man coming over his back. Defensively, Maryland dropped into a zone, which forced Virginia to work around the outside for a good look. Virginia could ill afford the time that was ticking away while they probed the Maryland zone for an opening. This is perhaps where Carter had his biggest impact on the game. The Cavaliers seemed to be looking for a perfect shot, when they really did not have the time to look for one. Credit also the Maryland long poles, who clogged up passing lanes and disrupted the flow of the UVA offense. Both teams would each score again once, sophomore Brian Farrell for the Terps and junior Garrett Billings for the Cavs, but neither goal had a real effect on the outcome of this game. In the end, the Cavaliers just did not have an answer for Terrapin goalie, Jason Carter’s career best 15 saves. Carter’s excellent work between the pipes, coupled with a second quarter in which the Cavaliers were outscored 6 to 2 ultimately doomed the Cavs today. The good news for Virginia fans is that this is just their first ACC game, which still gives them time to improve their seed for the tournament. Their next two games are against conference foes UNC and Duke. On a side note, the play of Ken Clausen continues to impress, his length and speed are scary.
The Terps got great performances from their goaltender and team defense, as well a five point outing from freshman attackman Travis Reed. This combination proved enough to topple the #1 team in the nation today. Next up for the Terps is the always entertaining match-up with Navy. This game is always a slugfest, and it will be interesting to see how Maryland’s freshman attackmen handle the stifling Navy defense.
