Besides grabbing a pair of wins, the Terrapin field hockey team’s trip to Chicago for a pair of games offered another opportunity – one that may prove more useful than an early season win over an unranked opponent – as the team prepares for a run at a third consecutive national championship.

“We’ve only really scrimmaged against each other. Now we need to work playing with each other instead of against each other,” sophomore Nicole Muracco said. “I guess we just wanted to get a sense of teamwork and unity.”

With 11 goals for and no goals against in wins over Central Michigan (5-0) and Northwestern (6-0), the mission was accomplished.

Highly touted freshman Katie O’Donnell got her collegiate career started right on Sunday, putting in an unassisted goal just under two minutes into the season opener against Central Michigan.

However, the offense sputtered the rest of the half, failing to capitalize despite 15 total shots and seven penalty corners in the first half.

“A lot of times in the first half we’d get it in the circle, and we’d go to shoot, but then we’d hesitate and get it taken away,” Muracco said. “[Coach] Missy [Meharg] told us to just get in there and just shoot, and the goals will come. That’s exactly what happened.”

The team took the message to heart right away. Junior Susie Rowe finished off a penalty corner two minutes into the second half.

Then Muracco showed why she led the team in points last season with goals in the 44th and 58th minutes

The Terps’ fifth and final tally of the day came from O’Donnell, who notched a pair of assists in addition to the two goals.

Senior co-captain Kathryn Masson, who teamed with Alicia Grater for the shutout in both games, said the Terps needed a good performance to open the season.

“I think it was really important confidence-wise,” Masson said. “The first game of the season, you never know what to expect. I think regardless of the way Central Michigan played, we wanted to set our own tempo, and I think that’s what we did.”

The Terps repeated the dominance on Monday, knocking off the Wildcats at home, 6-0.

Meharg said her team came out “mentally numb,” leading to a few Northwestern scoring opportunities in the first seven minutes.

However, the Terps again responded, and this time they put it away early with four first-half goals.

Muracco struck first with an unassisted goal 5 minutes and 46 seconds into the game.

Ameliet Rischen scored her first goal of the year with an assist from Janneke van Leeuwen and Alexis Pappas.

Rowe and O’Donnell combined to contribute the last four goals with two apiece.

O’Donnell ended her first weekend as a Terp with four goals and three assists. Rowe and Muracco each added three goals.

Meharg said she fully expected her freshman phenom to contribute so much so quickly based on her extensive experience internationally.

“She’s a high-level player, but the great thing is she had three assists to go along with the goals,” Meharg said. “She’s a team player, and she always looks to pass before dribble.”

Meharg said she was pleased with her squad’s “total team efforts” as all 18 players on the bench found the field for the Terps in both games.

Contact reporter Eric Detweiler at

edetweilerdbk@gmail.com.