Missy Meharg

On Sunday afternoon in Storrs, Conn., Missy Meharg accomplished something any NCAA sports coach strives to achieve. She clinched a trip to the Final Four.

But outside of the lingering excitement from the previous afternoon, Monday was a relatively typical day at the Terrapins field hockey coach’s Severna Park home. Meharg straightened the house, went shopping and took care of her dogs.

“It’s always a bit chaotic after you qualify,” said Meharg, whose Terps will face No. 2-seed Princeton today in Norfolk, Va. “You just don’t know whether you’ll qualify or not, so you’re always kind of scrambling a bit and getting organized.”

It’s a routine that has become a near-annual tradition for the 25-year coach. Meharg earned her fifth straight Final Four berth — and 15th overall — when the Terps beat No. 3-seed Connecticut, 2-1, in the quarterfinal round. Her eight seniors have finished each of their three previous seasons in the NCAA championship game.

“It doesn’t get old,” midfielder Janessa Pope said. “I looked at one of the freshmen today and said, ‘Oh, it’s your first Final Four. I remember when it was my first and how exciting it was.’”

The Terps (18-5) will be hard-pressed to make it to another title game. In an Oct. 2 road game against the Tigers, the Terps held a 2-1 advantage at halftime before Princeton stormed back and ultimately notched the 3-2 win. Forward Kathleen Sharkey, the NCAA leader in goals with 35, tied the game with the assist from two U.S. Olympians, Julia Reinprecht and Katie Reinprecht. A little more than six minutes later, Sydney Kirby scored the go-ahead goal that dealt the Terps their second loss in three games.

The Tigers hold the best scoring margin in the nation and lead the NCAA in points per game, goals scored and assists per game. The team also has the second-highest winning percentage in the country and is riding a 12-game winning streak.

“We’re going to want to seriously slow down the pace in the midfield and keep the speed down,” Meharg said. “At the same time, I’m confident in our ability to put a lot of pressure on their backs. I want to cut off the stream to their key players.”

Though they may not be the favorite against the offensive juggernaut, a number of Terps said they couldn’t care less. The squad entered last year’s NCAA tournament unseeded, but beat the three top-seeded teams en route to a seventh NCAA title.

“It’s nice being the underdog,” said forward Jill Witmer, who leads the team in scoring with 14 goals. “When you’re No. 1, you’re kind of a target. Now, we can go in there and beat the other teams out because we want to prove that we deserve that top spot.”

The odds may be somewhat against them, but the Terps said they got all the motivation they would ever need from their performance in the ACC tournament semifinals. The Terps played 70 minutes of their best hockey against Virginia, which had come from behind and beaten them in the regular season. At the final whistle, they had more than twice as many shots as the Cavaliers and twice as many penalty corner opportunities, and it showed through a crooked 5-1 score in favor of the Terps.

Now, they want to do the exact same thing to the Tigers.

“I still say — and I know that they would agree — that their best hockey has yet to be seen,” Meharg said. “We’re just looking to put that together right now.”

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