The Maryland women’s lacrosse team rushes the field in celebration of the team’s 9-8 win over North Carolina in the NCAA tournament at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, on May 24, 2015.
When the April edition of Inside Lacrosse was released, Terrapins women’s lacrosse coach Cathy Reese held a team meeting to address the magazine’s headline story.
Featured on the cover was a photo of attacker Brooke Griffin, defenders Megan Douty and Alice Mercer plus midfielders Kelly McPartland and Taylor Cummings. Positioned in bold capital letters below the players’ faces was an even bolder question: “Best Team Ever?”
Reese wanted to alleviate the added pressure on the nation’s preseason favorite to repeat as national champions.
“It’s not about being the best team ever,” Reese told her players amid their undefeated regular-season slate. “It’s about being the best team we can be.”
But by the end of the season, Reese’s squad made a case for living up to the headline when it raised the national championship trophy for the second straight year after a 21-1 campaign.
The No. 1-seed Terps beat No. 2-seed North Carolina, 9-8, in the finals by completing the largest comeback effort in NCAA championship history after trailing 6-3 at the half. To reach the title game, the Terps had to defeat a one-loss Massachusetts team, No. 8-seed Northwestern and No. 4-seed Syracuse. The Terps posted a 6.5 goal average margin of victory in the tournament.
“We had a tough run to get to the championship, [but] we’re not going to say it when the brackets announced,” Reese said. “We have a target on our back, and we were really drawing everyone’s best game. … This team had very high goals, very high expectations for themselves.”
But days before the Terps’ tournament path was announced, however, they weren’t sure they secured the top seed after holding the No. 1 ranking in the country all season.
They cruised through the regular season with a 17-0 mark to earn the Big Ten regular-season championship title, but in the conference tournament semifinals, the Terps tasted disappointment for the first time since April 5, 2014.
The team lost its grip on an early 4-0 advantage against Ohio State and fell, 11-10. The loss capped a stretch of games, Reese said her team was “just kind of going through the motions.”
“We were kind of slipping but managing to pull out some wins,” Douty said. “After that loss, we [were] coming together, and we were playing Maryland lacrosse again.”
Though the Terps boasted eight All-Big Ten team players, including the conference’s offensive, midfielder and defensive Players of the Year in Griffin, Cummings and Douty, respectively, two of the team’s key contributors were new to the program.
Attacker Megan Whittle led the team with 67 goals in her breakout rookie year. The Glenwood native earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors six times in the regular season as she tallied at least three goals in 17 games, including six-goal performances against Towson and Princeton.
“It was something really special to be a part of,” Whittle said. “Playing everyday against the best defense, and everyday with the best attackers, you learn a lot, and you learn a lot quickly. I figured out my place, and everyone trusted me.”
Goalkeeper Alex Fitzpatrick, a fifth-year senior transfer from Lehigh, was the only other new starter. After winning a preseason competition for the starting spot, Fitzpatrick guarded the Terps’ net in all 22 games and finished second among Big Ten goalies who played more than three games in save percentage (.454). And she anchored the Terps defense that ended the season as the fifth-best scoring defense, allowing an averaging of 7.27 goals per game.
Perhaps the most important factor in the Terps’ repeat run, though, was Cummings. The junior led the country with 100 points and ranked fifth with 143 draw controls to become the youngest player to win two Tewaaraton Awards, given to the nation’s best men’s and women’s lacrosse players.
A few months after wrapping this state’s flag over her shoulders and staring down the camera as the focal point of the Terps’ head-turning magazine cover, Cummings notched a team-high five points and seven draws on the sport’s biggest stage.
Now, Reese no longer has to try to minimize and divert the pressure placed on her 34 players. With back-to-back titles in their possession, the Terps legitimized their standing among women’s lacrosse’s elite teams.
“It was hard,” Cummings said. “We’ve had some ups and downs, but right now, we’re on a very big up, and I don’t think you can ask for anything more.”
