Nothing about this past season was normal for Maryland field hockey.
The Terps mostly played matches around the weekend, only faced Big Ten opponents, saw a limited number of spectators and on top of everything else, played in the spring.
On Tuesday, Maryland inched one step closer to normalcy, releasing its full 2021 schedule for the fall — where it will see 11 non-conference opponents.
The Terps open the season hosting UMass Lowell and Saint Joseph’s at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex on Aug. 27 and 29, respectively.
After, they will travel to Durham, North Carolina, and visit two of their old ACC rivals — Boston College and Duke — on Sept. 3 and 5 as part of the Big Ten/ACC Cup.
Maryland returns to College Park a few days later for a tournament of its own. UMass Amherst, California, American and Richmond will join the Terps for the Terrapin Invitational, where Maryland will play the Minutemen on Sept. 10 and the Golden Bears on Sept. 12.
The Terps will open their Big Ten slate on Sept. 18, hosting Penn State.
All eyes will be on Sept. 21 as Princeton comes to College Park for the latest installment of one of college field hockey’s greatest rivalries. Their last three meetings have gone to overtime, including the 2018 NCAA semifinal.
And new Maryland transfer Julianna Tornetta, who played her undergraduate career with the Tigers, isn’t the only crossover. Princeton head coach Carla Tagliente and assistant coach Dina Rizzo both played for Missy Meharg and the Terps. Rizzo went on to serve as her assistant coach from 2010 to early 2013, and was eventually promoted to associate head coach until her departure for Princeton in 2016.
[Once a rival, Julianna Tornetta’s long path to joining Maryland field hockey]
Three days later, the Terps will pick their conference schedule back up, traveling to Bloomington for a date with Indiana. They’ll return to Washington, D.C., two days later for a Sept. 26 match against American.
After a pair of home matches against Northwestern and Iowa, Maryland will travel to Charlottesville on Oct. 7 to face Virginia, another one of its non-conference rivals, which knocked the Terps out of the 2019 NCAA tournament.
While the Terps will leave the Old Dominion after that game, they won’t be finished facing teams from that state. James Madison visits Maryland on Oct. 10.
The team will travel to New Jersey for a meeting with Rutgers on Oct. 15. Two days later, it’ll come home to face UConn, another non-conference foe.
The Terps round out their regular season with a road trip to face Michigan State on Oct. 22 and Michigan — which reached the 2020-21 NCAA final — on Oct. 24. The regular season will wrap up on Oct. 29, with Ohio State coming to College Park.
After the regular season is in the books, Maryland will look to bounce back from last year’s poor showing in the Big Ten tournament, which will be held in New Brunswick, New Jersey, this season from Nov. 4-7. The NCAA tournament begins Nov. 12 and 14, and the Wolverines will host the tournament’s semifinals and finals in Ann Arbor on Nov. 19 and 21.
The Terps will kick off their first full season after a long two years on Aug. 20, hosting the DC Dragons, a club team, for an exhibition match in College Park.
