The No. 8 Maryland field hockey team remains an unfinished product more than halfway through the regular season.
The Terps struggled for parts of their last two games when opponents displayed unfamiliar looks. They did their best to adjust and came out of the weekend with one victory.
Friday’s match with No. 9 Michigan provides Maryland with another chance to improve against a high-profile foe.
“We were really bummed about what happened,” midfielder Anouk van Asbeck said. “So we sat together and looked at what was good and what our weaknesses were.”
Maryland beat Iowa, 4-2, on Sept. 23, but the Hawkeyes stumped the Terps early on by rotating defenders to different sides of the field.
It helped Iowa take a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.
“They rotated their backfield around a lot, which we had a lot of trouble figuring out how to play,” coach Missy Meharg said. “They were shifting formation and rotating the side of the field around. We didn’t respond well to it.”
The Terps went on to win, but two days later, No. 11 Northwestern handed the Terps their second Big Ten loss of the season.
The Wildcats, earned the 3-2 win with a style of play Meharg believes her team will face again in its matchup with the Wolverines on Friday.
“They’re a big power team, so they want to really nail the ball into the circle,” she said. “I thought Northwestern was [too], and we weren’t quite as prepared for the really big hard balls into the circle. We’ll get ready to see that again with Michigan.”
Meharg also expects Michigan to try to get the ball deep into the corners to pin the Terps defense back. After some passing miscues against Northwestern, Maryland spent a lot of this week working on getting the ball out of its back third.
“Maryland hockey can play one of the most beautiful attacking styles,” Meharg said. “But if the balls are behind you, it kind of chokes things up,
The Terps said many of their mistakes were self-imposed, so they’re making sure to hold each other accountable.
“We’re focusing on demanding things from each other,” midfielder Brooke Adler said. “If something doesn’t work — really calling each other out.”
The Terps will have some extra motivation Friday when they host the program’s national championship teams from 2006 and 2011 as a part of alumni day. Jill Witmer, who played forward for Team USA at the Rio Olympics in August, will be one of many former players in attendance. Meharg is thinking about having Witmer speak to this year’s team but hasn’t decided yet.
Alumni day affords Maryland the chance to honor their past, but in terms of looking forward, the Terps are concerned with the short-term.
But with the regular season halfway over, the two former national championships squads will offer some perspective about where the team is now and where they want to be.
“It takes a lot of hard work, the grit and the grr,” Meharg said. “When you work really, really hard you do earn the luck, and I think this team is starting to get that.”
