Heading into Cathy Reese’s senior season in 1998, the Terrapins women’s lacrosse team had won three consecutive national championships. The club graduated a handful of seniors the year before, forcing it to depend on multiple freshmen as a result.
Reese, now entering her 10th season as the Terps’ coach, will likely face a similar scenario in 2016. Eleven players graduated last season, and only five starters are returning.
Last February, Reese’s team returned all but two starters and went on to win its second consecutive national championship. This season, though, the Terps will depend on a handful of first-year players as they attempt to bring another title to College Park.
“We haven’t had a game yet, but your opening weekend, you don’t know a whole lot about how things are going to go,” Reese said. “These guys have also had so much success. One thing we really try and emphasize is this is a new team.”
Reese said the Terps’ freshman class, ranked second in the nation by Inside Lacrosse, will have an immediate impact. Seven of the Terps’ 10 freshmen were ranked among the magazine’s top 50 first-year players, with midfielder Jen Giles, midfielder Caroline Steele and defender Shelby Mercer ranked 15, 16 and 20, respectively.
Among those returning is senior midfielder Taylor Cummings, the two-time Tewaaraton, Honda and IWLCA National Midfielder of the Year awards winner. The Terps also return defender Alice Mercer, attacker Megan Whittle, midfielder Zoe Stukenberg and defender Nadine Hadnagy, all of whom were named preseason All-Americans.
“The last few years we had a pretty big core group of people,” Cummings said. “As a player, it’s been a lot of fun to have a new look. I think we’ve already done a good job of coming together as a team.”
The Terps, ranked No. 1 in the preseason media and IWLCA coaches polls, averaged just more than 14 goals per game last season — the seventh-best mark in the nation — and scored at least 10 times in all but one contest. Reese said she and her staff plan to continue using a fast-paced offense consistently.
“We’re going to be fast,” Reese said. “We’re going to be a big transition team. We’re going to look to push the ball. And we’re going to score a lot.”
To complement the Terps’ productive attack, the team’s defense was among the best in the country in 2015, holding opponents to an average of just more than seven goals per game. The team lost several defenders, but Stukenberg is excited about the new-look unit.
“It doesn’t matter that we have new faces,” Stukenberg said. “I think we’re going to pick up where we left off as one of the best defenses in the nation.”
In goal, Reese will have to find a replacement for former goalkeeper Alex Fitzpatrick, who started 22 games a year ago. The veteran coach said goalies Emily Kift, Emma Moss and Megan Taylor will compete for the starting job.
“Our goalie play has been outstanding,” Reese said. “We’ll be playing a lot of them to start. We’re going to split them up and give them chances to show us what they can do.”
The Terps will play three of the top five ranked teams in 2016. And just two weeks after the season opener against William & Mary on Saturday, the Terps will face No. 2 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Even so, the Terps said they are not looking ahead to the rematch of last season’s national championship game.
“Who’s going to deny the Maryland/Carolina game isn’t fun?” Cummings said. “We do a really good job of going one game at a time. I think there’s a lot of pressure. We don’t really feel it.”
The Tar Heels beat the Terps in 1998, and the loss came two days after Duke beat Reese’s team to open the season.
Nevertheless, the young Terps squad bounced back from a rocky start and went on to win the national title. Reese hopes this year’s team, even with several newcomers, can replicate that success in 2016.
“We’re at the point where it’s different, but it’s also an opportunity to embrace other people,” Reese said. “I believe in them, they believe in themselves, and I think this season is going to be one to remember.”
