Frese: ‘Our job is to be able to crash the party’

Coach Brenda Frese at the postgame news conference after the No. 4-seed Terps beat No. 3-seed Louisville, 76-73, in the Elite Eight at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., on April 1, 2014.

The Terrapins women’s basketball team wasn’t expected to reach the Final Four. To book its trip to Nashville, Tenn., it had to upset No. 1-seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16, then beat No. 3-seed Louisville before an announced 14,002 — mostly Cardinals fans — at the KFC Yum! Center.

Now, to get a chance to compete in the national championship on Tuesday, the Terps have to play Notre Dame, an undefeated squad who many expect to be facing off against UConn, another undefeated team, for the NCAA title.

The Terps have embraced their underdog label, however, and coach Brenda Frese maintained that mentality during a news conference on Saturday.

“To some extent I feel like Maryland and Stanford are the extras at the Miss U.S.A. pageant,” Frese said. “Everybody’s rooting for the other two. Our job is to be able to crash the party.”

Star forward Alyssa Thomas sent a similar message to media memebers, mentioning she and Stanford forward Chiney Ogwumike want to spoil the possibility of a marquee matchup between two undefeated teams.

“That’s what everybody expects, is for them to be undefeated and to meet up with each other,” Thomas said. “But I mean, we’re here to crash the party, and I know Stanford is too. I talked to Chiney, and we’re here to crash the party.”

UConn coach Geno Auriemma doesn’t think that type of mentality will be a motivating factor for the Terps or Stanford, however, as each team had to beat talented opponents to get to this point.

“I don’t think anybody should feel like they’re the extras at the Miss America pageant,” Auriemma said. “I’ve never won any pageants.”

The Terps lost their last matchup against Notre Dame, 87-83, on Jan. 27 at Comcast Center, but the Fighting Irish will be without starting forward Natalie Achonwa, the team’s leading rebounder, who tore her ACL in the Elite Eight. Forward Taya Reimer is expected to replace Achonwa for tonight’s contest.