One night in spring 2017, Maryland field hockey forwards Julie Duncan and Linnea Gonzales made their way to the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.

Then sophomores, Duncan and Gonzales had just watched the women’s lacrosse team play, a program that wound up undefeated that season to secure its third national title in the past four seasons. As they sat in the locker room, the pair came to a similar consensus.

“We want to be national champions too, we want to get that feeling,” Gonzales recalled saying. “Let’s do this next year.”

[Read more: Maryland field hockey believes it can learn from its 1st loss of the season]

The Terps made it to the national championship game the following season in 2017, but fell short to Connecticut. Now, as a senior captain, Duncan has one more chance to lead her team to a title and reach the goal she and Gonzales had dreamt of that night.

“It’s bittersweet for me because … this is my last year,” Duncan said. “Every day, I try to enjoy every moment of it knowing that it’s going to be over soon.”

[Read more: No. 2 Maryland field hockey’s undefeated start ends with 3-1 loss to No. 7 Penn State]

With time dwindling on her college career, Duncan has started four total games. She’s scored four goals on 30 shots and chipped in four assists. But Duncan’s leadership qualities, which have continued to develop over the last two seasons, have made her a key piece for an annual tournament challenger.

Terps coaches and teammates have praised her presence on and off the field. When asked about her on Wednesday, everyone began to smile.

The Medford, New Jersey, native is described as “straight-up” by her teammates. She doesn’t sugar-coat anything and is able to confront people about their actions in an honest, productive way.

And when she does get her chance to play, Duncan has impressed coach Missy Meharg with her athleticism and work ethic.

“From an explosion aspect, she’s one of the fastest athletes to ever play,” Meharg said. “When Julie’s in the game, she has an impact on the defense of the other team. She punishes them.”

After Maryland’s first loss of the season Sunday, Duncan gathered the squad to give a speech. The forward is often known for pumping her teammates up before contests, but following Penn State’s 3-1 upset, Duncan offered a message to refocus her teammates and reinvigorate the energy levels that had built during the Terps’ 13-game win streak to start the year.

“Yeah, we just lost our first game of the season,” midfielder Kyler Greenwalt recalled Duncan saying. “But we need to take this game, we need to learn from it and realize that there are a lot of people coming after us right now and we can’t let our guard down.”

While Duncan supplied a serious message postgame, she also serves as the team jokester.

In her freshman season, she would go around and do magic tricks for other players to break the ice. Prior to certain big home games, Duncan turns off all the lights in the locker room and brings out a strobe light, putting her jersey over her head and starting a giant dance party.

“That’s where she’s really unique. She’s such a great leader because she just always shows those qualities on the field, but also she just lightens the mood,” Greenwalt said. “She just, like, really makes the hard times better. … That’s one of her best qualities.”