COLLEGE PARK — JJ Suriano could do only so much.

Despite a career-high 18 saves from the sophomore goalkeeper, No. 2 seed Maryland women’s lacrosse could not prevent No. 1 seed and reigning Big Ten champion Northwestern from mounting a second-half comeback and escaping with an 8-7 victory Sunday afternoon in a tournament final before an announced 1,403 at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

The Wildcats (16-2) captured their third consecutive title and fifth overall, breaking a tie with the Terps for the most tournament crowns in conference history.

Meanwhile, Maryland (14-5) missed an opportunity to collect its first championship since 2022 and has now fallen to Northwestern in the title game in 2023 and 2025.

“It’s heartbreaking right now in these minutes afterwards,” coach Cathy Reese said. “It always is. Losing stinks. No one likes that, but to know that you can play with one of the best teams in the country and you can compete at a really high level and you can play some really good lacrosse is something they need to hang onto.”

Suriano, a Baltimore resident and Bryn Mawr graduate, put on a masterful performance for the Terps.

Her save total tied the Big Ten Tournament record set by Penn State’s Taylor Suplee in 2019 and was tied for the fifth most in a game by a Maryland goalie and the most since Megan Taylor stopped 20 shots in an 18-8 win against Florida on March 29, 2017.Suriano turned aside 11 attempts in the first half despite a 21-shot barrage by the Wildcats, who whiffed on nine free-position opportunities. Northwestern misfired on six free-position shots in the opening two quarters, and Suriano made saves on at least four of those chances.

“We’ve seen games this season where she’s been on fire like today, and we’ve seen games where we haven’t had very many saves,” Reese said. “Today was a great day to bring it. We needed her against such a powerful offense. She stepped up, she rose to the challenge, our D put them in great spots where she could make saves from. Overall, I was really pleased with her effort.”

Suriano tied her career high early in the third quarter, but the Terps’ defensive integrity began to crack under Wildcats’ relentless pressure, which resulted in 41 shots. Freshman attacker Aditi Foster fired a rocket from the right point to snap a 19:34 drought and draw Northwestern to 6-3 with 5:04 left in the period.

Forty-eight seconds later, graduate student attacker Niki Miles began a drive down the left alley, curled back to the high slot and laced a shot to the left side of the net to close the gap to 6-5. And sophomore midfielder Noel Cumberland, a Fallston resident and Maryvale Prep graduate, collected a pass from junior attacker Madison Taylor and scored from the high slot with nine seconds to go to complete a 3-0 run in a 4:55 span.

In the fourth quarter, Suriano made a sparkling left-footed kick save to deny Taylor on a free-position opportunity. But with 2:54 remaining, senior midfielder Emerson Bohlig skipped a shot from the high slot to knot the score at 6.

Sixteen seconds later, Taylor scored to give the Wildcats their first lead at 7-6. Taylor appeared to provide her team with a two-goal cushion on a curl around the right post with 1:35 left, but her stick hit Maryland senior defender Sophie Halus on the head, and the goal was waived off after video review.

Thirty-one seconds later, junior midfielder Kori Edmondson converted her fourth free-position shot of the game to lift the Terps into a 7-7 tie.

But Northwestern controlled the ensuing draw, and Edmondson was assessed a one-minute penalty at the 1:02 mark. In a 6-on-6 situation, Bohlig lobbed the ball to Foster standing alone on the right side of the crease for an alley-oop dunk with 15 seconds to go.

Foster, who entered the game with six goals and three assists in 14 games, credited Miles and her teammates with instilling the confidence in her to hunt for scoring chances, especially the game-winner.

“We were running one of the plays that we run at practice, but we didn’t get the look we wanted to,” she said. “I just cut and I made eye contact with Emerson. It was literally direct eye contact, and she just passed it, and I shot it.”

Wildcats coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said the players and coaches didn’t panic despite trailing for much of the contest.

“We just talked about just continuing to trust ourselves,” said Amonte Hiller, who won two NCAA championships at Maryland in 1995 and 1996. “Just keep it simple, trust our offense and trust what we were doing and continue to have the defense lock down and give the offense a chance for more possessions. We knew that eventually things would fall, and it was great that some different people stepped up and were able to execute.”

Edmondson had a free-position opportunity with two seconds remaining. But as she raced in from the right side of the 8-meter arc and began to launch a shot, a Wildcats defender got a stick on Edmondson’s stick, and the shot sailed over the cage.

Reese said Edmondson — a Severn resident and McDonogh graduate who leads the offense in goals (51) and points (61) — was the right person to try to send the game into overtime.

“I would give it to her again and again and again from what we’ve seen from her this season,” Reese said. “It’s tough to end. She’s not real happy right now. But she has been our heart for this season.”

To limit Northwestern’s explosive offense, the Terps took a the-best-defense-is-a-methodical-offense approach. When they had the ball, they were content to consume as much time off the shot clock as possible.

Maryland finished with just 19 shots and scored only one goal in the final 22:30. On several occasions, the offense eschewed free-position opportunities to chew more time and turned the ball over twice on shot-clock violations.

Edmondson led all players with four goals, but no other Terp had more than one point. Junior defender Neve O’Ferrall collected two caused turnovers and two ground balls.

Taylor paced the Wildcats with three points on two goals and one assist. Miles, a Penn transfer, joined Foster in scoring two goals.

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