Terps Won't Rest on Top-Seeded Laurels
by Patrick Stevens | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
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Backstopped by goalkeeper Brittany Dipper, No. 1 Maryland has yielded just 6.7 goals per game this season. © John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com |
The Maryland women’s lacrosse team is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time in nine years.
That used to be an annual occurrence, of course. And while the Terrapins (18-1) have enjoyed a strong season, a return to No. 1 -- at least heading into the postseason -- isn’t a cause for a huge celebration.
“I think it’s more significant to the lacrosse community than it is for us,” said defender Brittany Poist, whose team meets Marist (10-7) on Saturday in the first round. “For us, it’s all about Maryland the whole year. No matter what our seeding, we’re going to play our game throughout.”
For the most part, the Terps’ game is very good.
Maryland ranks 10th in the country with 14.1 goals a game. Better still is a defense giving up a miserly 6.7 goals an outing, the top figure nationally.
It’s the product of a team that mixes a lot of youth with the experience of a final four run a season ago. But it’s also not a bunch pleased simply to enjoy a strong March and April.
“We’re thrilled to have the No. 1 seed, but I think all that really is a reflection of a successful season -- what the team did and what they were able to achieve throughout the season, which led us to be in this spot right now,” coach Cathy Reese said. “But the bottom line is it really doesn’t really mean anything. We have to be able to play some really good lacrosse to keep advancing in this tournament.”
Maryland played particularly well in the final third of the
season, perhaps not-so-coincidentally after a 13-9 loss at North
Carolina on April 10. It was a frustrating day at both ends of the
field, and the
Terps’ offense was held in single digits for only the third
time all season.
The team returned to College Park and watched the game film the next week. While parts were difficult to see, it was also a reminder of just what the Terps could accomplish when they were sharp.
“When we watched the game, we were like ‘Oh, we can do so much better than that,’” attacker Caitlyn McFadden said. “It got us excited, because we knew we could play a whole lot better and really step it up.”
And so the Terps have. In six games since the loss, they’ve outscored opponents 82-31. Maryland won the ACC tournament in that stretch, defeating North Carolina in the final.
It would seem Maryland learned a lot from its setback.
Realistically, the greatest lesson was a reminder of how much it
didn’t want a season to end on a sour note -- as it did in
last year’s NCAA
semifinals.
“Just like anything, you have to pick and choose what
you’re actually going to take from your experience,”
Poist said. “I think we could have done without it, for sure.
I think we could have learned a lot from winning that game, but we
knew we didn’t want to feel like that again after last
year’s final four. To feel like that in the middle of the
season was really frustrating. I think what it came down to again
was a reminder we can’t walk into games and think we’re
going to win
because 'Maryland' is on our jersey.”
While the No. 1 seed and an impressive regular season might not
mean much for the next three weekends, there is a history of
success against parts of the 16-team field. The Terps defeated the
other three seeded teams on their half of the draw -- No. 4
Georgetown, No. 5
James Madison and No. 8 Penn -- as well as three ACC teams seeded
in the other half of the bracket.
That’s a strong resume. Still, the next four games will be remembered for much longer, and Maryland is determined to show the regular season was simply a prelude to something even better.
“I don’t think we’ve played our best lacrosse
yet,” Poist said. “I’m looking forward to this
tournament to show the lacrosse world what our best lacrosse
is.”
ACC Women's Lacrosse Notes
ACC teams will play host to half of the NCAA tournament’s first round games. Both Maryland and third-seeded North Carolina, which faces Navy, will play Saturday. Sixth-seeded Virginia, which meets Towson, and seventh-seeded Duke, which will play Vanderbilt, have home games on Sunday... The four ACC teams in the postseason are a combined 50-4 against opponents outside the conference. The only non-league opponents to upend an ACC team in the regular season were Northwestern (twice), James Madison and Loyola.
