April 16, 2008

By Brian Kapur The Diamondback

April 16, 2008

College Park, MD (UWIRE) -- After a two-week hiatus in Chapel Hill, N.C., the Maryland Terrapin women's lacrosse team will finally return home.

The No. 3 Terps (12-1) will start their final home stand of the regular season tonight, when they host local rival No. 8 Georgetown (9-4). For the Terps this will be just the second home game in a month and their first at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex since March 15.

"We are very excited to finally be playing back at home," sophomore midfielder Caitlyn McFadden said. "We were at Chapel Hill, and before that, we even had a lot of away games. We are ready to come back and tear it up on our home field."

After joking about the last road trip, there is nobody happier than coach Cathy Reese to finally be back at home. While Reese is enthusiastic about a home game, she is even more excited about the matchup with the Hoyas.

"Woo-hoo! We are excited to be back home," Reese said. "One of the big things is playing such a tough team such as Georgetown. [Georgetown] is coming into this game having had an outstanding season so far."

As with ACC rival North Carolina last week, the Hoyas have given the Terps trouble recently. The Terps did defeat the Hoyas last season 14-10, but it was the first win in the series since 2004.

For the Terps to extend their 10-game winning streak, they will need another balanced and smart offensive performance. The Hoyas come into the game with the No. 16 defense in the nation.

"On offense, we need to come out and demonstrate poise and composure and our ability to handle the ball," Reese said. "We're shooting against an excellent goalie, so we need to take our time and place our shots."

While the Terps can expect a tough defense from Georgetown, the Terps have a stingy defense of their own.

"Across the board, our team had an outstanding game against Carolina," Reese said. "[Senior goalie] Allie [Buote] played tremendous in the goal and made some great saves. Our defense played very well on defense as a team."

The Terps will look to take advantage of their final two games before the ACC tournament to tune up.

"We just want to work on things and get everything ready to go before the tournament and hopefully get two more wins," McFadden said.

(C) 2008 The Diamondback via UWIRE