On Nov. 17, 2019, No. 4 Maryland field hockey found itself in a stalemate with No. 3 Virginia in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. Goalkeeper Noelle Frost, then a senior, had been anchoring the Terps’ strong defense, tallying a career-high 11 saves.
But 5:28 into overtime, the Cavaliers’ Annie McDonough deflected a shot from Rachel Robinson past a diving Frost and into the cage, ending the Terps’ 17-4, Big Ten-winning season.
Maryland hasn’t played a match since — but now, there’s some clarity on when it will, as the Big Ten announced its field hockey schedule Tuesday.
The Terps, along with five other Big Ten teams, will head to Virginia Beach, for two straight weekends. Maryland will kick off its 14-match season there on Feb. 26 against Michigan State — 467 days after it last took the pitch for a match — before a battle with Northwestern two days later.
[Maryland field hockey announces Louisville transfer Margot Lawn will join program]
After seeing Ohio State and the Wildcats again in the second weekend in Virginia, the Terps will travel to State College, Pennsylvania, for two matches against Penn State’s Nittany Lions on March 12 and 14.
From that point on, six of their following eight matches will be played in College Park.
Maryland will host Indiana March 19 and 21 — its first match at home since Oct. 25, 2019, when it secured a share of that season’s Big Ten title.
The Terps will then have a weekend off before heading west to Iowa City to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on April 2 and 4. They’ll return home for a pair of matches against Michigan on April 9 and 11 before rounding out the truncated regular season with two matches against Rutgers on April 15 and 17.
Days after the conclusion of the regular season, Iowa will host the Big Ten tournament from April 21-24.
And just after that wraps up, the NCAA will name 12 teams — four fewer than usual — to the NCAA tournament. The semifinals and finals are set to be played in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from May 7-9.
Maryland — which returns 16 players from last season, including Frost — will look to avenge its second-round loss in 2019.