The Maryland field hockey team routinely begins its season on the road, doing so every year since 2000, but the Terps rarely get this deep into the schedule before playing a game at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.
After four away games during which the No. 7 Terps finished with an even record, they finally return home this weekend for the 20th Terrapin Invitational.
“Thank god,” coach Missy Meharg said about coming home. “We always get away the first couple of weekends.”
Meharg said she was glad the team spent their first two weekends in Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, rather than somewhere farther away from College Park.
Still, she’s glad to be back at the program’s home, a place where it enjoys a significant home-field advantage. The Terps are 147-17 since the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex was opened in 2003. They are 10-3 in home openers.
Their home dominance is even stronger at the Terrapin Invitational, which they’ve played in all but one year since 1996. The Terps have gone 36-2 in the first 19 invitationals, their only losses coming in 2008 (2-1 to Syracuse) and 2015 (2-1 to Albany).
The Terrapin Invitational is a four-team event during which each team plays two games. California, Fairfield and American join the Terps on the field this season. Maryland starts against Cal on Saturday.
Playing the tournament each year is one of a number of traditions Meharg has built in College Park during her 29 years as the head of the program.
“When you’re someplace for 29 years, you create relationships that go just past friends,” Meharg said. “There are people that are in my life forever here.”
Though those people may know Meharg, they’re less familiar with the players. That’s why for the past seven years, the Terps have held a golf tournament and dinner at the university golf course.
This year’s event will take place Friday, the day before their home opener, and will allow the new players to meet alumni and other Terps supporters.
“We feature the women, they’re kind of showcased and introduced to the community that support us emotionally, physically and also financially,” Meharg said. “We’re very fortunate to have a very strong booster group.”
That support continues in the stands, and the Terps routinely rank at or near the top of the NCAA in attendance.
“[The attendance] says that Maryland field hockey has a reputation, and a successful one,” midfielder Lexi Silver said. “But I guess [attendance] can vary every year, we’ll have to see what it’s like this year. Hopefully it’s the same.”
Meharg is hoping her program can take back the top spot in attendance after finishing fifth last year. She’s also looking forward to playing on what she considers “the best playing surface in the country” and letting her team show what they’ve learned from their first two weekends on the road.
“You can represent yourself somewhere else, but [it’s different] to have people come here that already know what you’re about and you get to showcase it,” Silver said. “There’s certainly an energy about playing at home.”
