Maryland’s Field Hockey team discuss strategy and plays at halftime during UMD’s 3-1 loss against UNC on September 5, 2014
Entering this past weekend, coach Missy Meharg often referred to her Terrapins field hockey team as a work in progress. The veteran coach starts two freshman, a new centerback and a first-year starter at goalkeeper, so she understood it would take time for the Terps to find the chemistry and confidence they’ve displayed in recent years.
Two wins on the road at Michigan and Michigan State this weekend forced Meharg to change her mind, though. After watching the Terps offense erupt for four goals in a 16-minute span against No. 18 Michigan State on Sunday in a 4-2 victory, Meharg thinks the Terps have asserted themselves as a team that’s found a rhythm.
“I don’t believe we are a work in progress,” Meharg said. “We have established a style that we just want to get better and better at.”
The Terps had to withstand a tough offensive start to the game with the Spartans after hitting the post multiple times en route to a scoreless opening 29 minutes. But eventually the goals came.
Early in the season, an inconsistent Terps offense has relied heavily on penalty corners to score goals. Before Sunday’s contest, the Terps had tallied 13 of their 21 goals off penalty corners or rebounds from corners.
But against the Spartans, they moved the ball well from the midfield and scored three of the four goals on crosses.
“In the circle, our forwards were really ready for the ball,” said midfielder Katie Gerzabek, who earned an assist on a cross to forward Moira Putsch. “All week in practice we were really working on finishing the opportunities that we create, and we took what we were doing in practice and finished them in the game.”
While the Terps earned eight penalty corners and converted one with time expired at the end of the first half, their ability to score in the flow of the game allowed for quick strikes.
The team had scored four goals in a game just once this season and were able to match that in a 16-minute stretch against a Michigan State team that hadn’t allowed more than three goals entering the matchup against the Terps.
“It just happens,” said midfielder Maxine Fluharty, who scored twice against the Spartans. “When you are in a flow you get a lot of opportunities, and we were finally able to finish on them.”
But for the Terps, it wasn’t something that had happened much this season. The chances had been there, but the goals weren’t coming. The Terps are still shooting 13.2 percent on the season, nearly half of last year’s.
“Sometimes we are desperate to score goals,” Meharg said. “It’s very hard to score goals when you’re desperate.”
And while hitting the post numerous times early in the contest was frustrating, the Terps were persistent, and it paid off. As conference play continues, the Terps can use the offensive success against the Spartans as confidence.
While the offense did have long scoring droughts to open and close the game, the 16-minute scoring run displayed the offensive firepower the Terps possess. And instead of working to reach that potential, they will strive to maintain their production from this weekend moving forward.
“We have got an incredible front seven,” Meharg said. “We can really, really attack in a way that can get everyone goals.”
