Women’s lacrosse’s Howard emerges as one of ACC’s top goalkeepers after spending first three seasons on bench

Kasey Howard

Kasey Howard was nervous moments before the Terrapins women’s lacrosse team faced archrival Duke at Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex on Feb. 24.

The senior was preparing to make her first career home start in front of more than 1,500 fans. She was emerging as a key cog for a program she’d admired ever since playing on a squad named “the Terps” in seventh grade. And she was hoping to provide a worthy replacement for former National Goalie of the Year Brittany Dipper, who graduated last May with a 75-8 career record in four years as the starter.

Howard could hardly believe her circumstances. Four years earlier, she figured her lacrosse career was coming to an end. After receiving little interest from Division I programs, Howard planned to attend college in the south and possibly join a sorority. She applied to this university just hoping to get admitted as a regular student.

But her college career has been about far more than homework or Greek life. After sitting on the Terps’ bench for three years, she has become one of the ACC’s best goalkeepers. She’s anchoring the No. 1 Terps’ defense, helping them rank second in the conference in goals-against average.

Against Duke, though, Howard was still a newbie. She’d been with the team as long as anyone, but she was making just her third career start. So it was no surprise she felt plenty of butterflies.

“People were saying she was untested,” her father, Steve Howard, said. “And it’s true. [She] was really in the frying pan.”

‘I LOVE THAT’

During Howard’s first tryout with “the Terps,” a summer travel team for middle school girls, coach Peter Hollerbach realized the inexperienced seventh grader had the natural ability to play goalie.

It didn’t take Howard long to develop a passion for the position.

She told her dad, “When someone is coming at me running as hard as they can and coming in my face, and they are going to throw it at my face as hard as they can, I love that.”

The Terps eventually competed against high school students at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Their players stood nearly a foot shorter than the majority of their competition, but Howard’s stellar play in goal ultimately carried the Terps to the tournament title.

“We thought we were like the best of the best,” Howard said. “My seventh-grade Terps team was really influential [for me].”

That success carried into Howard’s career at Annapolis’ Broadneck High School. She took over as the varsity starter in her junior year and helped her squad win the District V Championship against Mt. Hebron as a senior.

She thrived under pressure, notching a career-high 17 saves as the Bruins won the title.

“That was the one that made me believe maybe I can actually hang,” Howard said.

ODD RECRUITMENT

During her senior year, Howard and her dad visited an ACC school interested in recruiting the goalie.

Howard felt confident the program would make her an offer. But a few weeks later, Steve Howard said, the school called Kasey Howard to tell her they had chosen to “go in another direction.”

“I told her, she’s never going to make a career out of lacrosse,” Steve Howard said. “She may just be better off concentrating on her studies.”

So Kasey Howard gave up the sport she’d been playing since second grade. She began making plans to attend a southern school — possibly Florida State or South Carolina — and join a sorority. But when Howard was accepted to this university, she decided to attend the state’s flagship school as a normal student.

While sitting in a Broadneck English class one day that March, Howard received a call from a number she didn’t recognize. It was Terps coach Cathy Reese.

“I knew who she was; she’s like famous,” Howard said. “I thought she needed something from Broadneck for [then-Terps attacker] Kari Ellen [Johnson]. The thought of her wanting me to play didn’t even cross my mind. I think my jaw hit the floor.”

With one goalie playing both field hockey and lacrosse and another interested in studying abroad, Reese needed a stable option in the net. Johnson played with Howard at Broadneck, so she suggested her coach reach out to her former high school teammate.

When Steve Howard learned of the call, he reminded his daughter of the conversation they had after the last ACC school spurned her. He wanted Howard to focus on her studies.

But she had already made up her mind. She immediately felt comfortable with the Terps’ coaching staff during her recruiting visit the next day, and committed to the team.

“We were actively recruiting a goalie in Kasey’s class,” Reese said. “[Kari Ellen] said her [high school] goalie was coming to Maryland next year. … It turned out to be a great fit.”

NATURAL LEADER

Howard couldn’t believe her luck when she first arrived at this university. In fact, she still says her situation feels a bit dreamlike.

But Howard’s emergence as one of the ACC’s top goalies has been no accident. The Annapolis native has done more than simply fill Dipper’s role; she’s created her own niche as the unquestioned leader of the defense.

Howard ranks second in the ACC with an 8.48 goals-against average through 16 games, leads the conference with a .443 save percentage and has won the ACC defensive player of the week award twice.

Though those gaudy statistics come in Howard’s first year as a starter, they don’t surprise her father.

“She was always the leader,” the elder Howard said. “I can’t think of a time she wasn’t. It’s really hard to rattle that kid.”

Filling in for Dipper wasn’t an easy task. The Clarksboro, N.J., native won National Goalie of the Year her junior year, earned ACC Championship All-Tournament honors four times and led the Terps to a national championship as a sophomore.

Though Howard was the most experienced goalkeeper on the roster following Dipper’s graduation, Reese didn’t guarantee her the starting position. Howard and redshirt sophomore Abbey Clipp split time at the start of the season.

She enjoyed the competition and secured the starting job after an 11-save performance at Syracuse two games into the season.

Then came the Duke game. Despite her nervousness entering the contest, the goaltender appeared calm while friends and family surrounded her after a 15-6 Terps victory.

Perhaps the magnitude of her breakout performance hadn’t sunk in just yet.

Perhaps the former aspiring sorority girl didn’t fully understand she had become the leader of a national title contender. And who could blame her? After all, she was still a relative newbie.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Howard said. “Since the way I got here was kind of weird, it was awesome to come a long way. I think people didn’t see it coming.”

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