Maryland women鈥檚 lacrosse has its eye on the prize
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (BVM) 鈥� The University of Maryland鈥檚 women鈥檚 lacrosse team is notorious for being one of the best college lacrosse programs in the country, bringing home a total of 15 national championships for the Terps over the years. The UMD lacrosse program enters its upcoming season with high expectations which is what comes with being one of the highest–ranked teams in the country.聽
However, the Terps have been on somewhat of a bumpy ride the past two years after being forced to comply with ongoing Covid-19 restrictions and regulations such as having to socially distance themselves from their teammates at practice. Athletes were also required to wear masks during practice and lifts, and were forced to forfeit games because of positive Covid-19 cases. Making it a challenge to pull everything together before the season began.
In 2020, the Terps only competed in a total of five聽 games before their season was cut short by the pandemic. Last year, the Terps competed only in conference games, bringing home seven wins over top teams in the Big Ten such as Penn State, Rutgers, and even out-of-conference Johns Hopkins.聽
However, this is not what the Terps鈥� record typically looks like. This women鈥檚 lacrosse team has gone undefeated more times than not. Additionally, they have brought home more national championships than any other college lacrosse program in the country.聽
This season, a sense of normalcy has returned in College Park with the Terrapins competing in both conference and non-conference games. UMD is set to face top opponents such as Virginia, Florida and Northwestern in the upcoming weeks.
鈥淭his season will definitely be harder than the last with the amount of games we have and the challenging schedule,鈥� sophomore defender Kacey Hogarth said. 鈥淗owever, our team is very excited to show what we have been working so hard for鈥� we have tremendous leaders and coaches that will allow us to perform at our best鈥�.聽聽
Last week, it was announced in the that this year’s captains are fifth-year senior Grace Griffin, and Tori Baretta. This is Griffin’s second consecutive year leading the Terps as their captain. The Terps have also landed a handful of high-ranked transfers that are expected to make a huge impact on the field this season.聽
Two of those transfers were named to the Preseason All-American list which was recently published by Inside Lacrosse. Abby Bosco who transferred from Penn and Aurora Cordingley from Johns Hopkins are at the top of the watch list this season along with veteran standout players Hannah Leubecker and Grace Griffin.
However there are some challenges that come with having so many incoming transfers and freshmen who are unaware of the style of play that Maryland incorporates.
鈥淚 think it is going to be pretty challenging making sure our new transfers as well as our freshman, (which is a little under half the team), are knowledgeable in both the offensive and defensive end and understands all of our strategies,鈥� junior defender Aiden Peduzzi said.聽
鈥淗owever, I strongly believe that our team has improved immensely since last year, especially through our leadership and confidence levels improving a lot and I think that will definitely show on the field,鈥� Peduzzi continued.
Junior Sophia Antonopoulos offered some insight into the hardships that their team has had to endure last season.
鈥淚 think that last season, it was really hard because Covid impacted our schedule and the way we played and we also have gotten a lot of new fabulous players so I think this year will look significantly different from last season.鈥�
Cordingley is a hot commodity to look out for in the upcoming weeks, ranking 9th in Division I total career points in NCAA history. Additionally, speed racer junior Kate Sites will be returning to the field next week after having to sit out of last season due to a season-ending knee injury.
鈥淚 am really excited to see Kate Sites on the offensive end. She is a very explosive player and will be a really great addition to the offense,鈥� Hogarth said. 鈥淪he has worked extremely hard in every practice this year and there is no doubt in my mind she will perform well.鈥�
Sites, who played in all four games her freshman year before it was cut short by COVID, was known to be the fastest player on the women鈥檚 lacrosse team before her injury last year.聽
Antonopoulos explained that although it is evident based upon preseason that there are a ton of instrumental players such as top-50 ranked players and preseason All-Americans, she believes that their instrumental players go beyond that.
鈥淚 think that we have a couple of new faces who didn鈥檛 receive recognition that should receive the highest of recognition and a bunch of now-upperclassmen that are returning from injury that have had years of knowledge and training and are now fully recovered and they鈥檙e going to have a huge impact on our team鈥檚 success,鈥� Antonopoulos said.
The Terps are confident that they are back on the right track this season with their eyes set on bringing another national championship home to College Park. They are due to compete against Saint Joseph鈥檚 in their season opener on February 12 at 3:30 PM EST in Philadelphia.
