Last season, the Terrapins women’s lacrosse team watched North Carolina players flood from the sidelines at Villanova Stadium after the Tar Heels scored the winning goal in a triple-overtime epic to win the national championship.
The loss on that May night ended a near-perfect campaign for the Terps. They rolled through the regular season to the tune of a 17-0, captured their fifth straight ACC championship and went on an NCAA tournament run to their fifth consecutive national semifinals appearance.
But it ended suddenly in the longest NCAA championship game in women’s lacrosse history.
So as the No. 2 Terps enter their final season in the ACC, a return to the sport’s final weekend remains the goal, though coach Cathy Reese will have to fill the voids left by last year’s seniors, including Tewaaraton Award winner Katie Schwarzmann, attacker Alex Aust, defender Iliana Sanza and goalkeeper Kasey Howard. The Terps have one senior who started any games last season, midfielder Beth Glaros.
“We are young this year,” Reese said. “But we have seen a lot of great things from our returning players and our freshmen that are fitting into the mix. Overall, it is just a new team.”
Inside Lacrosse listed Terps midfielder Taylor Cummings on its preseason national player of the year watch list. The sophomore recorded 43 goals and 14 assists, along with a team-high 94 draw controls on her way to winning ACC Freshman of the Year. Reese expects Cummings to help ease the loss of Schwarzmann, who had 58 goals and 27 assists in the midfield last season.
Along with Cummings, junior Kelly McPartland and Glaros will lead a midfield that adds highly touted freshmen Zoe Stukenberg and Morgan Torggler.
“Zoe Stukenberg has been phenomenal,” Reese said. “I expect a lot from her as we head into the season.”
The Terps lost Aust’s team-high 70 goals and 55 assists, but returning attackers Kristen Lamon and Halle Majorana combined to score 48 goals last season, and the team also returns redshirt junior Brooke Griffin.
In addition to Glaros, Reese said she expects Griffin, another four-year player who contributed in the past, to step into a prominent role on offense.
“I had such great leaders in front of me,” Griffin said. “So I know what the responsibility is.”
While the Terps are best known for their high-powered offense, which averaged nearly 15 goals per game last season, Reese expects her defense to impress as well.
The Terps return three defensive starters from last year, including Inside Lacrosse preseason All-American defenders Megan Douty and Alice Mercer.
The Terps are confident they have plenty of depth as they search for a replacement for Sanza, last season’s ACC Defender of the Year. Reese acknowledged the difficulty for freshmen to acclimate to the college game on defense, but the six-time ACC Coach of the Year said freshman Nadine Hadnagy looked strong in practice and is battling for the fourth starting spot on defense.
Once again this year, the Terps enter the season without a declared starting goalkeeper. With Howard graduating, Reese must decide between redshirt junior Abbey Clipp and freshman Emily Kift.
“I just want one that makes saves,” Reese said. “They are both so different. Emily is somebody that is going to take chances. She comes out of the cage. She is super athletic back there. And Abbey is just happier in the cage, a more traditional approach to being goalie.”
Reese plans to use the same approach as last year, when Howard and Clipp battled for the starting job. She will have the two split time to start the season and make a decision later based on their performances. Whichever goalkeeper Reese chooses, the Terps will continue to face stiff conference competition.
With the ACC adding Syracuse and Notre Dame, the league has six of the nation’s top 11 teams entering the season, including No. 1 North Carolina.
“It’s going to make for a fun regular season,” Reese said “And for sure an exciting tournament.”
But before the Terps can look ahead to playing conference games and seeking redemption in the NCAA tournament, they will first have to fill the holes left by the graduating class.
“We have got a group of girls that are all really talented athletes and talented players,” Reese said. “And now our job as coaches is to try to put the group that will play well together on the field.”
