Maryland Books First Trip to Final Four Since 2022 With 14-10 Win Over Navy

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Much like it has been for much of the past two months, Maryland was neither perfect nor pristine in its NCAA tournament quarterfinal against Navy.

And in a way, it made the celebration of the program’s first trip to Memorial Day weekend in four years even easier to savor.

Keeley Block and Lauren Lapointe both had three goals and an assist as the third-seeded Terrapins scored the final five goals in a 14-10 victory over sixth-seeded Navy on Thursday before 2,547 at SECU Stadium.

“They just don’t quit and they just keep going,” Maryland coach Cathy Reese said. “I’ve been part of teams that might get a little more white-knuckled and deer-in-headlights and sit back, and I struggle to get them out of that. These guys just keep fighting. I love that about them. I love that they have each other’s backs.”

Kori Edmondson, Kayla Gilmore, Jordyn Lipkin and Kristen Shanahan each scored twice for the Terps (18-3), who advanced to face second-seeded North Carolina on May 22 in Evanston, Ill.

Alyssa Chung had six goals — in the process breaking Navy’s single-season scoring record — and an assist as the Mids (20-2) were denied their second trip to the semifinals and first since 2017.

“We were in the game all the way,” Navy coach Cindy Timchal said. “I think the fourth quarter kind of got away with a couple cards, a couple unfortunate situations.”

Indeed, the Mids had three of their nine cards issued in a final period that had bouts of choppiness. But the biggest swing in the latter stages came on draw controls, an area Navy dominated as afternoon faded into evening.

Senior Maura Murphy helped Navy win 17 of the first 21 attempts, with junior Mikayla Williams collecting 10 of the draw controls to surpass her career best of six.

It tilted possession in favor of the Mids, who were able to shrug off a couple three-goal Maryland leads in the first half thanks to the extra opportunities. Well, those and the sidearm darts Chung repeatedly delivered.

The sophomore Tewaaraton Award finalist had Navy’s first four goals, then scored back-to-back goals in the third quarter to boost her season total to 84. The last goal came on a free position shot, and it vaulted her past Jenna Collins’ old mark of 83, set in 2018.

It also nudged Navy ahead 9-8. The Mids couldn’t grow the advantage, but senior Emma Kennedy did make it 10-9 with 14:36 to go. Navy won the next draw control but didn’t claim another the rest of the night.

Instead, Gilmore (who got a brief respite in her draw duties in the middle of the second half) helped the Terps flip possession and fueled a strong closing run. After Maryland took only three shots in the third quarter, Lapointe scored and then assisted on another goal in a span of 92 seconds to reclaim the lead.

“I’m glad that as a team we could come together, play together and really trust each other and really move the ball fast,” Lapointe said. “I really liked in the second half that we really clicked and had a bunch of assists and a bunch of unselfish goals.”

Gilmore delivered that go-ahead goal with 11:17, and Block and Lapointe scored 37 seconds apart as Maryland finally created a sliver of separation. Gilmore won the draws after both of those goals.

“She won five in a row at the end of the game, and it was like, ‘Holy moly,’” Reese said. “I’ve said all along she’s such a remarkable player and she studies the draw and to give her time to figure things out against a player of Murphy’s caliber, when Kayla figured it out, that fight was huge and we needed those possessions.”

It also proved the best way to stymie Chung, who didn’t take a shot in the final 22:33. Navy got off only three shots as a team in the fourth quarter, all stuffed by Maryland’s JJ Suriano (nine saves).

And when Edmondson added an insurance goal with 2:25 to go, the Terps were all but assured their first semifinal appearance since 2022.

“As soon as they started getting hot, we didn’t win the draws at that point, and that starts to get into a little bit of a pickle because you can’t expect the defense to be bending over backwards every single play,” Chung said. “They can only sell out so many times before we have to just come up with the ball.”

The in-state matchup was steeped in Maryland’s history of dominance in stretches in the sport. Timchal (eight) and Reese (five) have combined to lead the Terps to 13 of their 14 NCAA tournament titles and 25 semifinal appearances between them. (Reese took a 13-12 lead in coaching Maryland to final fours on Thursday.)

Timchal constructed a juggernaut that rattled off seven consecutive championships from 1995-01, with Reese’s playing career coinciding with the first four years of that run. And Reese presided over the sport’s Team of the Teens, with Maryland winning five national titles and reaching three other title games from 2010-19.

It’s all been enough to make anyone think another Terp powerhouse is lurking around the corner at all times. Yet Maryland was confronted with a rare possibility entering Thursday. If it lost, its seniors would become only the third class to go their four years in College Park without a semifinal appearance since the NCAA tournament was established in 1983.

Instead, after a pair of second-round exits sandwiched around a quarterfinal trip in 2024, the Terps ended their modest (by most programs’ standards) final four drought and added a third team to this year’s Big Ten’s semifinal contingent. Top-seeded Northwestern and fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins will also play on the season’s final weekend.

“I think this is the hungriest team I’ve ever been on. … ,” Suriano said. “To see all the work that we’ve put in and all the days, they’re not easy days but we stack them on top of each other and it’s really, really exciting to see all the pieces get put together to get us where we want to be.”