SPECIALTY PROTECTION
WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE
The final game of the night started the same way as the earlier ones did: packed with back and forth scoring and loads of intensity. Maryland junior middie Brendan Healy tallied the first score of the night as he set himself up on the front right of the goal. Healy started his dodge and gave a right to left split, finishing the move with a lefty high to high on the run rip that found the top corner. 1-0 Terps.
It didn’t take long for Virginia to come back however, as Johnny Christmas found himself wide open on Harry Alford’s crease after a Maryland turnover and easily finished the fast break pass to tie it at one. Virginia would then take their first lead of the night on the following possession when Matt Poskay was left alone on a cut to the crease and fired the quick stick in to go up by one. 2-1 UVa. Maryland then added insult to injury as a defenseman was flagged with a late push call on Poskay, giving the Cavs the man advantage. As expected, the man up came back to bite them as Kyle Dixon ripped a low to high cannon from the top right to give Virginia the two goal cushion. 3-1 Uva.
The lead was short lived however, as Maryland would rattle off three straight goals to close out the first halfs scoring. Freshman Maxwell Ritz got things started, as he finished a Jeff Reynolds feed with a jump shot to bring the Terps back within one. 3-2 UVa. Brendan Healy then tied the score at three with an almost identical dodge and finish as his earlier move, burying the lefty overhand shot at Kip Turner’s hip. Not wanting to be outdone by the little brother, Xander Ritz got his first of the night to give Maryland the lead heading into the locker room. As the Cavs moved into a zone defense, Xander cut from X and was left open on the crease for the turning dump in. 4-3 Terps.
Drew Thompson started the second half scoring off for UVa off a Johnny Christmas feed under two minutes into the 3rd quarter. Then they went up by one when All American LSM Rob Bateman took the ball the length of the field and hit Matt Ward who finished the stick side bouncer. 5-4. Senior Midfielder Andrew Schwartzman tied the game back up for the Terps off of an absolutely textbook feed from Xander Ritz, and found himself one on one with the keeper for the easy put in. 5-5.
Maryland looked like they were going to go back on top, however a tremendous kick save by goalie Kip Turner stymied the Terps and the ball went in the other direction. As the Cavs are taking the ball down the field, Brendan Gill gets it behind the goal and comes around the back of the cage righty, dumping the shot in to put Virginia up one. 6-5 UVa. The ‘Hoos then went up by two when Johnny Christmas was attacking the goal from X and hit Kyle Dixon out top on the run. Dixon looked like he was about to shoot but instead feeds it inside to an attackman, who smartly ducks, causing the pass to slip right by Alford. 7-5 Uva.
Maryland then started the uphill battle to get even with another Andrew Scwartzman goal, which this time came off a very questionable UVa push call. Schwartman brought the ball around lefty and just stung the top corner with under six minutes to go. They then tied it up after the Terps called timeout at 2:54 left, when Billy McGlone gave an unassisted dodge out top, coming across the front of the goal. McGlone carried lefty and ripped the sidearm shot into the bottom right corner under 30 seconds after the timeout. 7-7. Each team had an opportunity in the final 2 minutes, however both defenses were on top of their games and the regulation clock ended with the scored still tied.
Overtime
Maryland wins the coin toss, however it’s UVa that wins the faceoff with LSM Bateman picking up the groundball off the wing. Bateman carried into the box, however the Virginia coaching staff quickly became nervous having a longstick handling the ball in overtime and began shouting repeatedly for a timeout. At first the refs didn’t hear the shouts, however one official finally gets the idea and gives Virginia their timeout….just as Bateman hits a wide open Virginia player on the crease who easily puts in what should have been the game winner. Not so. Virginia gets their timeout and the teams head into their huddles.
UVa comes out after the timeout carrying the ball around the outside and get four or five tremendous looks, including what looks to be the game winner, however Terp goalie Harry Alford comes up huge making the save. The ball gets shuffled around the crease as three Maryland d men start knocking bodies to the dirt, but in all the commotion they forget about Matt Ward who, at X, sees the ball pop out the side and scoops it up. He comes around the cage righty and at the last minute Alford spots him and just absolutely robs him of what should have been the clincher. The ball rebounds behind the goal, rolling fast, and Alford chases it out of bounds. Maryland possession.
The Terps clear the ball and once they get it into the box, call the time out. The come out from the timeout with Walters kicking it around the outside until it lands in Billy McGlone’s stick out front. McGlone dodges hard and, hoping to repeat his game tying performance, unleashes a cannon of a bouncer at the cage. Goalie Kip Turner gets a stick on it, the ball then hits pipe, and because of both interferences, flies straight up over the crease. Maxwell Ritz looks like he’s covered but jumps and gets his stick just on the ball, finishing the quick stick over Turner and into the lower left corner. Game over.
#1 Duke vs. #3 Maryland on Sunday in Ravens Stadium for the ACC tournament crown.
| Scoring | |
|---|---|
| John Christmas | (1, 3) |
| Kyle Dixon | (2, 1) |
| Matt Ward | (1, 1) |
| Brendan Gill | (1, 0) |
| Matt Poskay | (1, 0) |
| Drew Thompson | (1, 0) |
| Rob Bateman | (0, 1) |
| Saves | |
|---|---|
| Kip Turner | 13 (0.619) |
| Current Record | |
|---|---|
| Virginia | 9-3 |
