Midfielder Taylor Cummings celebrates with her championship hat after the Terps’ 13-10 win over Penn State at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex on April 23, 2015.
Throughout the 2015 campaign, Terrapins women’s lacrosse coach Cathy Reese has emphasized a team-first mentality. While Terps took home weekly Big Ten honors in each of the past 10 weeks, the team took more pride in its unblemished regular-season record.
So even after the conference announced eight Terps earned All-Big Ten honors Wednesday, Reese’s team isn’t focusing on the recognitions. The Terps are maintaining their same mindset with the Big Ten tournament looming this weekend.
“All of that stuff is great, but I don’t put much stock in any of it,” Reese said. “We want to collectively be the best that we can be, but in order to do that, it takes everybody kind of serving their role and serving their purpose.”
Attackers Brooke Griffin and Megan Whittle, midfielders Taylor Cummings and Zoe Stukenberg, defenders Megan Douty, Alice Mercer and Casey Pepperman and goalkeeper Alex Fitzpatrick earned All-Big Ten team honors, marking the most all-conference selections of Reese’s tenure.
Whittle, Cummings, Douty and Griffin are also nominees for the Tewaaraton Award, which is given annually to the nation’s best men’s and women’s lacrosse player. Cummings earned the award last year, while Douty was one of five women’s finalists in 2014. Whittle is one of three freshman among the 25 nominees.
“[We] try not to worry about that too much and just focus on being on the team and taking every day at a time,” Whittle said. “[It’s] just focusing on Maryland and focusing on what [we] can do everyday in practice and games.”
