Sept. 19, 2000

COLLEGE PARK, Md.

By Eddie Timanus
USA TODAY

When a team is defending a national championship, coaches often break out phrases like "Do it again," or "Stay on top." But you won't hear that kind of talk very often around the Maryland field hockey team.

"I think the obvious would be to use words like 'repeat' or 'expectation' or 'performance.' As coaches, we've stayed away from that," says Terrapins coach Missy Meharg. "We started last spring really talking about a certain way of playing, constantly recognizing that we needed to set standards against the '99 championship team."

All but two players are back from that championship squad, and this year's version has picked up where the '99 edition left off.

"We've really emphasized playing the brand of attacking hockey that excites us," Meharg says. "We're a really good half-court breaking team, and maybe being a good full-field breaking team is one tweak we'd like to make from the '99 team."

With returning All-Americans Carla Tagliente and Rachel Hiskins leading the charge, Maryland is a prolific scoring team, though not all its wins were easy. The Terps needed double overtime Sept. 3 to defeat perennial power Old Dominion 5-4. Old Dominion was the last team to beat the Terps before their current winning streak of 29.

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The No. 1 Terps take their 7-0 record and 29 game win streak to No. 6 Wake Forest on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1 p.m.