By Steven Wolff -- STAFF WRITER After a tough one-point loss against Fairfield, the Hofstra women’s lacrosse team fell to the No. 1 Maryland Terapins in College Park by a final score of 20-5 on Saturday. The Pride has still not found a way to get a win, as it has started the year at 0-4.
Nine different players scored for Maryland, including Megan Whittle and Zoe Stukenberg who scored four goals apiece. Also, Maryland’s Kacie Longo and Taylor Cummings contributed to the action as they each recorded a hat trick. Cummings, the 2015 IWLCA National Midfielder of the Year, also added six draw controls to her stat line.
The Terrapins scored a quick six goals in the first five minutes and they kept pouring it on, as Maryland posted a dominating 12-1 halftime lead.
The lone bright spot for the Pride was attacker Lindsay Scott, who scored four of Hofstra’s five goals.
The Terps, however, tripled Hofstra’s total shots as Maryland held a 30-10 advantage and a 26-9 advantage with shots on goal. They also dominated the free position shots, as they held Hofstra scoreless, outscoring them 11-0.
Scott, a transfer from North Carolina, recorded a hat trick in her first four games at Hofstra. She’s tallied 17 goals so far this season to lead the Pride offense overall. Scott now has 11 goals in the past two games as she scored seven goals in the last contest. Entering the weekend, her goals-per-game average led the CAA.
Hofstra’s Becky Conto scored the other goal for the Pride, an unassisted goal with 13:31 left in the second half. Maryland, the two-time defending national champion, improves to 5-0 all-time against the Pride.
Turning the ball over was a thorn in their side, as Maryland forced 13 Pride turnovers compared to just eight for the Terps. The Pride has done a better job closing out games this year than it has starting them.
Hofstra has only been outscored by 10 goals total in the second half of games, while it has been outscored by 20 goals total in the first half. The Pride also had 13 more turnovers than they caused in the first half, but caused two more than Maryland in the second. If the Pride can get off to better starts it will help put less pressure on goalies Maddie Fields and Alexis Greene.
Maryland remains undefeated with a 4-0 record now, the same as it finished the last two years.
Hofstra will look to get its first win when the team travels to Baltimore to face Johns Hopkins on Sunday at 1 p.m.