Last year, there weren’t many opportunities for Kacie Longo to play.
The Terrapins women’s lacrosse team featured 11 seniors on its roster last season, so the then-freshman midfielder frequently found herself coming off the bench. Longo appeared in 13 games at midfield in 2015, and she scored her first career goal against Towson last March.
With a younger Terps roster this season, though, coach Cathy Reese has increased Longo’s playing time, inserting her in each of the team’s first four games. Longo’s fourth goal of the season came in the first half of the No. 1 Terps’ 20-5 victory over Hofstra on Saturday. It marked the first of three goals on the day for Longo, who has scored six times on 12 shots this year.
“For me, I’m feeling more comfortable being out there,” Longo said. “Last year, I was really nervous. That kind of showed.”
Longo took advantage of a pair of chances to score against the Pride. Her first goal, about 19 minutes into the first half, followed an assist from senior midfielder Bryn Boucher; the second came about four minutes later, when Longo made a free position shot — one of eight goals on 11 such attempts — to push the Terps’ lead to 12-0.
“She is such a neat kid because she is so good and has such great potential, but I don’t think she’s realized it yet,” Reese said. “She is just going to continue to get better and better as she gains more confidence in herself.”
Longo’s final goal of the afternoon, which made it an 18-3 contest, came off a successful shot fake with about 15 minutes remaining in regulation.
Sophomore attacker Megan Whittle attributed Longo’s success against Hofstra to her “cool, calm and collected” personality.
“No matter how fast the game is going, she will catch, take her time and finish,” Whittle said. “She finished a lot of shots today and had a lot of opportunities. Really proud of her.”
Longo’s productive performance against the Pride followed a brief but successful showing against then-No. 5 North Carolina a week earlier. With the game tied at five in the second half, Longo broke away from the Tar Heels defense and finished past the keeper.
Against Georgetown, Longo scored a pair of goals and won a draw control. The only time was held off the board was in the Terps’ season opener against William & Mary.
“Since there are people like Megan Whittle and Taylor [Cummings] who are always guarded, other people start getting involved and have to step up more,” Longo said. “They do what they have to do, but we have to get involved more too.”
And as the season progresses, Reese expects Longo to improve and continue to be a consistent contributor offensively.
“You can see when she goes confidently, she’s got such good speed and stick work and can finish on her shots,” Reese said. “She came away with a few goals and she earned them.”
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Kacie Longo’s first goal this season came in the first half of Saturday’s game against Hofstra. It was her fourth goal of the season. This story has been updated to reflect the correction.
