Defending national champion Maryland pulled away in the second half and advanced to its fifth consecutive championship weekend with a 13-8 win over Cornell on Sunday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in the NCAA quarterfinals. The top-seeded Terrapins improved to 14-3, while the Big Red's season came to an end after a 13-5 campaign. Maryland scored the game's first three goals and outscored the Big Red 5-0 in the decisive third quarter to open up a close game and a pair of long scoring droughts did in one of the nation's most efficient offenses. The Terps' defense held the Big Red scoreless over the first 19:18 of the game, then went another 22:20 without surrendering a score - including the first 19:40 of the second half. The lead grew to as much as eight at 12-4 before the unseeded Big Red chipped away and got back within 12-8 with six minutes remaining on the strength of four consecutive goals. Senior Jordan Dowiak had four goals and an assist and Connor Fletcher had a goal and three assists to lead the Cornell offense. Clarke Petterson had a pair of goals and sophomore Jeff Teat assisted on two more, ending his sophomore season with 99 points. Christian Knight made seven saves, closing his career as the fourth Big Red goalkeeper to be credited with 600 saves. Big Red defender Jake Pulver (two caused turnovers) did a nice job on Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Connor Kelly, limiting him to one goal. Bubba Fairman had three goals and two assists, Jared Bernhardt had three goals and an assist and Logan Wisnauskas had two goals and two assists. Dan Morris made eight saves between the pipes for Maryland in the victory. Maryland scored the lone goal of a quiet first period, as the two longtime rivals felt each other out. The Terrapins scored its seconds goal 83 seconds into the second and built as much as a four-goal edge, but Cornell chipped away at the top seed. The Big Red ended the half with consecutive goals and drew a 30-second penalty as halftime expired to go into halftime knowing they'd have the ball and an extra-man opportunity. Dowiak played an inspired game, with his stinger for a goal and a flip pass for an assist late in the first half making it 6-4 at the break. Cornell broke a long scoring drought in the second with a highlight goal. With Maryland on the clear, Jake McCulloch ran over the Terps' defender to separate him from the ball. Seconds later, Petterson caught a pass in transition from Teat, faked twice and put the ball in the cage to get Cornell on the board. The third quarter was all Maryland, and despite an impressive Big Red fourth quarter run led by three straight goals by Dowiak, the in-state Terps were able to close out the win. Maryland used a big advantage in the face-off game (15-9) and efficient shooting (13 goals on 30 shots) to earn the right to play either Duke or Johns Hopkins in the national semifinals. Cornell held an edge in shots (38-30) and ground balls (38-30).