Little has worked for Syracuse against Maryland in the last four years. For SU’s graduating seniors, Saturday’s NCAA semifinal will be their last chance.

SU’s history against the No. 1 seeded Terrapins (19-1, 5-0 Big Ten), the team the Orange will face in the NCAA semifinal, is dismal. This senior class is 1-6 overall against UMD and 0-3 in the postseason. One-third of SU’s losses in the last four years have come against Maryland.

But in a season where No. 4 seeded SU (16-7, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) has avenged four of its losses, the Orange could get the ultimate revenge and end the season of a team that has ended its season each of the last two years.

“It’s my senior year, we’re the revenge team, people call us,” goalie Kelsey Richardson said. “We’re ready.”

Kailah Kempney has scored just two goals in the six games she has played against the Terrapins. Attack Devon Collins has been held without a goal against Maryland since scoring two during her freshman year in the Orange’s only win versus the Terrapins.

Despite collecting 439 draw controls in her career — third-most in NCAA history — and averaging nearly five draw controls per game in her career, Kempney has averaged just one draw control per game against UMD. Maybe even more telling of the struggle at the draw circle: SU has yet to beat Maryland there in each of the seven matchups in the last four years.

And save for this year’s performance, Richardson had saved just a third of the shots in the four games she played in against the Terrapins.

After last season’s first loss to UMD on March 10 in the Carrier Dome, a reporter asked, “You get sick of Maryland a little bit?”

“Yeah” Kayla Treanor said, followed up by an immediate, “Of course,” from Kempney.

And the Orange want revenge. It would fit the season’s trajectory — four of SU’s five postseason wins have come against teams that beat SU earlier in the year.

The Terrapins have been the last two senior classes’ barrier between cementing each’s legacy with a national championship. These seniors have one last chance to put together a complete performance against Maryland. SU has come close, losing five of the seven matchups to UMD by three goals or less.

“We made history at Syracuse. We definitely left our mark as a class,” former SU player Alyssa Murray said after SU’s loss to Maryland last year. “… I think I can bow out.”

The program has been on the doorstep of a national championship — no SU women’s team in any sport has ever won one — making the final four each of the last three years. This time, SU is trying to avenge another loss and keep Maryland from slamming the door shut on its championship hopes again.

“We’ve avenged all the teams that have beat us prior in the season, so this is the only one left,” Kempney said. “Why not have it be in the final four against Maryland?”

Published on May 21, 2015 at 9:02 pm

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