Maryland tops Northwestern in NCAA women's lacrosse semifinal
Maryland's Kelly McPartland of Farmingdale Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Farmingdale native Kelly McPartland scored three goals and top-seeded Maryland defeated Northwestern 9-6 Friday night in the semifinals of the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament.
The Terrapins (22-1) will face the Syracuse, which beat Virginia 16-8 in the earlier semifinal, in Sunday's championship game. Maryland will shoot for its NCAA-best 11th national title in women's lacrosse after losing in the final last season to North Carolina.
Brooke Griffin and Zoe Stukenberg each scored twice for the Terrapins.
Rocky Point's Kara Mupo led Northwestern (14-7) with two goals. The fifth-seeded Wildcats have a storied history in the NCAA tournament, having won five consecutive national championships from 2005-2009, and then two more in 2011 and '12.
After falling behind 2-1, Maryland responded with four consecutive goals to take the lead into the break. Griffin had a goal and two assists, and McPartland scored twice during the run.
Bay Shore native Alyssa Leonard's free-position goal early in the second half ended a 24:39 scoring drought and pulled the Wildcats within 5-3.
Maryland went on another three-goal run. After McPartland's third goal with 8:11 remaining provided a five-goal cushion, Kelly Rich and Mupo answered for Northwestern. But that was as close as the Wildcats would get.
