Going into the NCAA Tournament, the top-seeded Terrapin field hockey seemed indestructible after capping off the first perfect regular season in program history with a comeback victory in the ACC Championship.

The Terps themselves weren’t so sure.

“To come off such a huge win coming from behind in the ACCs, obviously every coach and any unit, you can be a little bit concerned that there’s a sense that the season has culminated with that type of experience,” coach Missy Meharg said.

But rather than suffer a letdown in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament this weekend, the Terps (22-0) used the momentum from their overtime ACC title game win against Virginia to their advantage. They cruised past American 6-1 in the first round on Saturday and then Drexel 5-0 in the second round on Sunday to get to their fourth Final Four in five seasons.

The conference title run did help ready the team for the NCAA Tournament. The experience provided extra preparation in the country’s strongest conference — three of the Final Four teams are from the ACC — and proved the Terps could win in a pressure situation unlike any they had faced so far.

“I would say it’s a huge confidence booster, to know that we can come up from losing like that, being down 2-0 in the first half and not even starting to score until 15 minutes left in the game,” midfielder Alexis Pappas said. “And going into the NCAA Tournament knowing that, it’s good.”

Yet while they took pride in the victory, the Terps worried their energy would lag after the adrenaline rush of the conference final, especially against the weaker opponents of the first rounds.

To counteract that, they refocused not on what they had accomplished but on what they still needed to improve, continually repeating that they wanted to “take their game to the next level.”

“It’s what we play for, it’s what we practice for every day is this tournament right here,” back Brianna Davies said.

The players embraced the plan, throwing themselves into practice even more than they had before the ACC Tournament, Meharg said.

Last Tuesday, the team trained just before the NCAA Selection Show and a team dinner in honor of their assured No. 1 seed. But the Terps still had one of their best practices all year, according to Meharg.

“You can’t think too far in advance or you lose sight of the game that’s right in front of you,” forward Janessa Pope said.

That mindset showed over the weekend.

The Terps never allowed the Eagles or the No. 10 Dragons a chance to get into the games. They controlled the ball for the majority of both games and outshot their opponents 51-11 while cutting down on mistakes that Virginia had capitalized on to take the lead in the conference title match.

Now, the Terps are set to continue their rigorous preparations for their Friday match against No. 4 Princeton.

“You practice how you play,” Pappas said. “That’s what our motto is. And we’re ready to take on this week of hard training and get ready for the Final Four.”

kyanchulis@umdbk.com