After playing five straight games and spending just more than two weeks in College Park, the Terrapin field hockey team is ready for a change of scenery.
Tomorrow, the No. 2 Terps (7-0, 1-0 ACC) start their longest road trip of the season — a daunting four-game slate that begins with No. 8 Wake Forest (6-2, 1-1) and features a midweek matchup against No. 4 Princeton and an ACC showdown against No. 3 Virginia on Oct. 1.
“We’ve been home now for two and a half weeks,” coach Missy Meharg said. “So we’re ready to get on the road and go see some different parts of the country and play some different teams.”
“It’s always fun to travel to ACC games,” defender Alicia Morawski added. “For me personally, having been here for a while, you know the environment and you know what it’s going to be like. Sometimes you have rowdy fans, but it just gives you a little bit more of an edge and a little bit more excitement.”
Although the Terps are ready to hit the road, they realize that it’s going to be all business once they arrive in Winston-Salem, N.C. Wake Forest will be, on paper, the strongest competition the Terps have faced in their still-young 2010 campaign. The Demon Deacons are looking to rebound after a disappointing loss to No. 6 Ohio State, just the fifth time this season an ACC team has lost to a nonconference opponent.
The Terps said that they are still focusing on improving their play as a team, but Demon Deacon midfielder Lizzie Rae remains a focus of the Terps’ game plan tomorrow.
The preseason All-ACC selection is averaging 1.62 points per game and is fourth in the conference in goals scored with six. She’s also scored two game-winning goals this season.
“I haven’t seen her very much — she was a freshman last year — but what I’ve seen of her is that she has a high rate of desire and intangibles,” Meharg said. “She dives all over. She touches or tips every ball that comes her way. We just have to play very good intercepting hockey.”
Because the team left for Wake Forest at 7 a.m. today, Meharg gave team members the option of taking yesterday off. For the Terps, that departure couldn’t have come soon enough.
“Everyone’s actually really excited about it,” Morawski said. “It’s always nice to get off campus. We know that on the road, it’s our time. We can focus more on us.”
jengelke@umdbk.com
