Welma Luus was driving home from work about three weeks ago when she answered a call from the athletic department’s compliance office.
A three-year forward for the Maryland field hockey team, Luus had been trying to receive permission for another year of eligibility. She had played two of her seasons with the Maryland tennis team before joining coach Missy Meharg’s program.
She didn’t recognize the number, expecting it to be a telemarketer, so she said her “heart stopped for a second” when she realized who it was.
“I couldn’t believe it when she said it got approved,” Luus said. “I was kind of stunned a little bit but very excited.”
With a fourth season of field hockey eligibility, Luus will have a chance to build on her breakout 2015 campaign.
“For me to come back and stay one more year, it kind of gives me one more chance and for us as a team to really do well this year,” Luus said. “I’m just very grateful, very excited, lots of emotions.”
Last season, Luus led the Terps with 20 goals, seven of which came in three Big Ten Tournament games to set a tournament record. Her performance also helped Maryland clinch the Big Ten crown after winning the conference’s regular-season title.
The Terps, however, lost the next weekend in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1990. That early exit, along with time to reflect on a college career she thought had ended, has fueled the second-team
All-American’s drive to build on last season’s production.
But when Luus arrived in College Park for the 2010-11 season, she prepared to compete in a different sport. She was a scholarship tennis player, and the program’s former coach wouldn’t allow Luus to split her time with field hockey.
Coach Daria Panova took over the tennis team entering the 2012-13 season and supported Luus participating in both sports. But Luus suffered a shoulder injury before the 2012 campaign that required surgery, forcing her to redshirt her first season as a two-sport athlete.
Luus recovered to play field hockey in the next three years, including the 2015 slate after her tennis eligibility ended. While she finished last year assuming her time in a Terps uniform was over, Meharg helped her apply for an “extension of clock” waiver in the hopes of returning for another season.
Meharg said the permission category is granted on an individual basis when student athletes present reasons they couldn’t use their four years of eligibility in a five-year window. The two worked with the compliance office to submit documentation citing the tennis coaching situation and her shoulder surgery were reasons to give to extend Luus’ eligibility.
“The neatest thing about the whole story is it’s the right decision,” Meharg said. “I like to see the NCAA make the right decision.”
Meharg attributed Luus’ surge as a redshirt senior to “recognizing her value to the team.” After she did not start a game in her first two seasons and combined to score nine goals, she opened 14 of the 22 games on the pitch. Luus ended up more than doubling her scoring total while serving as a mentor to the Terps’ young forwards.
“When she realized how much the team was relying on her, she just flew,” Meharg said. “She just came into her own.”
While Luus’ tennis skills helped translate into redirecting goals on the post, Meharg admitted her forward could improve on her man-to-man approach, her counter-defense and her distribution out of the midfield. Luus has worked on those facets and continued to stay in shape throughout the off-season, playing in a South African national tournament when she went home about a month ago.
Soon after she returned to College Park, she learned the NCAA had granted her a waiver.
Luus’ parents were in disbelief, going on to say, “we’ll believe it when we see it” when she told them the news, but they can expect to see their daughter back on the field for the Terps field hockey program this fall.
“I’ve told them for two years now that this is going to be my last year,” Luus said. “They’re just kind of joking, saying that they don’t know if I’m ever going to be done.”
