Maryland holds off Penn to stay undefeated in the early season

Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics.

Once No. 2 Maryland got into an offensive rhythm, they never looked back and were able to knock off visiting No. 8 Penn Wednesday evening, winning 14-9.

The Quakers took advantage of some early Terp turnovers and found themselves up 2-1 within the first five minutes of action. After junior attacker Brindi Griffin tied the game up at 2-2, senior attacker Caroline Steele took things into her own hands for Maryland.

Steele was the star of the evening as she was the driving force for Maryland in the first half, scoring four of the team’s nine goals. She finished with five for the night, bringing her season total up to 16 goals.

Maryland scored seven straight goals and not only went into halftime with a 9-4 lead, but also with what seemed like all the momentum in the stadium.

Penn came out swinging in the second half and cut into the lead that had increased to eight back down to five, but Maryland never let up. Senior goalkeeper Megan Taylor had herself a night with 13 saves and did not allow the relentless Quakers to cut their deficit.

Griffin and junior attacker Kali Hartshorn each had two goals while graduate student and midfielder Erica Evans scored her 200th career goal for Maryland. Junior attacker Gabby Rosenzweig had four of the Quaker’s nine goals.

The Terrapins (7-0) will host the Ohio State Buckeyes (6-2) at noon Saturday in Capital One Field.