Maryland women’s lacrosse earned the No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament and will host unseeded Fairfield in the first round at the Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex Friday afternoon.

The Terps enter the tournament after falling in the Big Ten championship game last week. Maryland’s Big Ten finals performance marked an impressive turnaround for a team that failed to win a Big Ten tournament game last season and brought in 11 freshmen to start the 2025 season.

Fairfield enters the opening round of the NCAA tournament as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Champion for the sixth time in the past seven tournaments. The Stags lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Johns Hopkins last season. 

[Maryland women’s lacrosse showed resilience despite gut-wrenching loss in Big Ten finals]

Fairfield finished as the second-highest scoring team in the MAAC this season, registering 229 goals and shooting at a 48.2 percent clip. The offensive unit is primarily led by attackers Grace Slater and Kelly Haggerty, combining for nearly 40 percent of the team’s total scoring.

If Maryland wins the first round, it will play the winner of Penn and Army West Point. The Terps would host the winner between the unseeded teams..

The Terps (14-5, 7-1 Big Ten) played the Quakers earlier this season in Philadelphia and lost in the final 30 seconds off a goal from attacker Keeley Block. The Terps were without defender Kennedy Major in that game and her return could prove vital in a rematch.

[Maryland women’s lacrosse falters late in Big Ten championship, falls 8-7 to Northwestern]

If the Terps win two games in the NCAA tournament, they have a chance to play No. 3-seeded Northwestern for the third time this season. Maryland nearly beat Northwestern in the Big Ten championship, but the Terps would not have home-field advantage this time around. The Wildcats defeated the Terps 16-4 in Evanston back in March.

Despite the tough schedule, there is optimism for the Terps to make a run.

The team’s core of attacker Chrissy Thomas, midfielder Kori Edmondson and defenders Neve O’Ferrall and Major were all part of a squad that won two NCAA Tournament games last season. Edmondson has tallied at least three goals in each of her past five games.

Goalkeeper JJ Suriano’s play in recent games is also promising, stopping at least 45 percent of shots in four of her last five games.