Season Outlook: Defense Could Propel Field Hockey Terps To Another Title Run
8/11/2006 8:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Aug. 11, 2006
The 2006 NCAA Champion Maryland field hockey team reported to preseason camp late this week. The Terrapins begin their run at a chance to repeat as national and ACC Champs on Aug. 26 in California.
The Maryland field hockey team was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the end of the season and claimed the 2005 NCAA Championship crown. What more could the Terrapins want? A repeat.
The reigning national champs will be looking for a first in the program's history, back-to-back NCAA titles, despite having won four overall.
"Maryland field hockey has won four national titles since 1987, one every six years. We are looking to break that pattern and address the newness and the challenges of repeating as champions," said five-time National Coach of the Year Missy Meharg.
In order to accomplish the rare feat of repeating as champions, each Terrapin will have to be accountable for themselves and the team, no matter what their role.
"Every member of this team has a role in this challenge - on the field, in practice, in meeting, in class. We all have a place we create. This is not just a team goal, but a personal goal, and every player, coach and staff will have the a responsibility in order to achieve our united objective."
Among those taking on the challenge of repeating as NCAA and ACC Champions are 13 letterwinners, including six returning starters, the reigning national player of the year, two All-Americans and five all-region selections. The incoming class is among the most talented in school history, including two high school All-Americans.
Becoming a cohesive unit and integrating a talented freshman class will be the challenge for the reigning champions this season if they are to accomplish what no other Terrapin squad has done before them. The schedule, which features nine of 16 NCAA Tournament teams, will also prepare this Maryland team to go all the way.
ATTACK The Terp attack, which was ranked in the top 15 in the nation, took the most number of losses, including the team's top two scorers from last season in two-time All-American Jackie Ciconte and three-time Mid-Atlantic All-Region honoree Tiffany Marsh. Maryland will look to a young front line to make up for those numbers.
"The objective is to maintain our full-field attacking style," said Meharg. "The forwards will use their fitness to integrate a lot of the running patterns to ultimately get the ball into scoring position. The attacking unit will have to have dynamic receiving and vision across the field."
While Honda Award winner Paula Infante is anchoring the defense, she also returns as the team's top goal scorer. She knocked in 13 tallies last year, the second-most on the team.
Senior Emily Trycinsky had a breakout season last year, playing in every game, while sophomore Sarah Scholl spent part of her summer playing high-level field hockey and was named to the U.S. Junior National team pool. Redshirt sophomore Kim Zeigler continued to develop her hockey skills during the spring competition.
Forwards Alexis Pappas, Nicole Murraco and Ameliet Rischen will be impact players on the forward line. The three come with extensive high-level playing experience. Pappas was named to the U.S. Junior National team pool after her local club squad won the 2006 National Futures Championship. Murraco was invited to the U.S. Junior National Team selection camp this summer, while Rischen is a member of the Under-18 Holland National Team.
MIDFIELD "We have tremendous depth in an area where we lost a lot of experience," said Meharg. "We have dynamic players with a variety of skills, all have speed to play well in the transition."
A four-time All-American and staple in the midfield, Lauren Powley's talent and experience can not be replaced. But her expertise and experience will lend a hand in the Terrapin's talented midfield as she takes to the sidelines in 2006 as a student assistant coach.
The midfield attack is well-balanced, with junior Janneke van Leeuwen, senior Megan Fox and sophomore Danielle Keeley leading the unit. Van Leeuwen has been a starter in the midfield the last two seasons. She earned ACC Freshman of the Year honors in 2004 and, last season, was an all-region pick. Van Leeuwen has been a model of consistency, while also making strides in the off-season.
Fox and Keeley have seen limited action, but continue to develop as hockey players and also have game experience.
Add to the midfield newcomers Bri Davies and Berber Rischen, older sister of Ameliet, also a newcomer this season. Davies had an outstanding high school and summer campaign, earning All-American honors and was also selected to the U.S. Junior National team pool.
Berber, a transfer from Kent State, was admitted to the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and will be pursuing her master's degree while playing out her final year of eligibility. She was the Mid-Atlantic Conference's Co-Player of the Year in 2004 and has been named to the all-region team three times. Her Division I field hockey experience will also be an added element she brings to the young midfield.
DEFENSE En route to the program's fourth national title, the Terps relied heavily on their defense, finishing second in the nation with a 1.01 goals against average. This year will be not be any different as Maryland's most veteran unit is in the backfield, with four of the five starters returning.
Included in that mix is 2005 Honda Award winner and three-time All-American Paula Infante. Infante, who also captured the ACC Defensive Player of the Year award last season, finished the season with 13 goals, five of which were game winners, and four assists and looks to become the program's first four-time first team All-American.
Joining Infante on the back line are senior Kristina Edmonds and sophomore Susie Rowe. Edmonds made several defensive saves, but none were more important thatn the one she made in the first half of the ACC Championship game, which eventually helped Maryland preserve a 3-2 lead and win the program's sixth conference title. Rowe was also a key component in helping the team capture the ACC crown as she tallied the game-winning goals in both the ACC semifinals and finals. Sophomore Ellen Ott gained valuable experience in 2005 and was a dominant player during the spring 2006 season.
Junior Kendall Beveridge is another defensive veteran who the coach staff will turn to, while former All-American Emily Beach, a two-year starter on the NCAA Championship squad, will also spend her first year on the sideline mentoring her former teammates as a volunteer assistant coach.
Incoming freshmen Alicia Morawski, Kristina Foster, Kate Effland and Kelsie Ward will provide the necessary competition and talent in the backfield.
GOALKEEPERS The goalkeeping unit also returns the entire core, with fifth-year senior Christina Restivo, All-American Kathryn Masson and redshirt freshman Alicia Grater.
On the rare change that an opposing team's forward got passed the backline last season, Masson was there to shut down the opposition. She led the country in goals against average with an 0.96 and had seven shutouts on the season, including three in the NCAA Tournament.
Restivo is the team's penalty stroke specialist and stopped a crucial Duke attempt in the regular-season meeting, a game which the Terps eventually won, 2-0. It was one of two instances the Blue Devils had been shut out all season. The other game was in the 1-0 loss to the Terps in the NCAA Championship.
Grater, who is coming off a redshirt season, was named to the Maryland USFHA Elite Performance Training Center and helped the Thundersticks win the 2006 USFHA National Championship.
"With Kathryn returning as an All-American, Christina excelling on defensive strokes and Alicia thriving in her game opportunities, as well, the goalkeeping unit could not be more competitive and positively developed," said Meharg.
SCHEDULE The schedule has been set up to challenge and prepare the 2005 champions to achieve its highest expectations.
"There is excellent regional and conference representation on the schedule. The slate includes games against nine of the 16 NCAA Tournament teams and we face competition from teams from seven different conferences.
"Not to be overlooked is the always-competitive ACC schedule. The ACC has continued to do an outstanding job of solidifying the conference's dominance on the national scale as fourth teams continue to reaming in the top five, all six have been among the top 20. With the addition of Boston College to the league last year, it has only made the ACC stronger."
Maryland opens the season in California, where it will face three of the top team sin the NorPac, including conference champion California. The Terps open with Pacific on Aug. 26, then play Stanford on Aug. 27, before closing out the trip in Berkley, Calif.
The first of the home-and-home series with Old Dominion is on Sept. 2 in College Park, then the Terps host the annual Terrapin Invitational with the Big Ten's Northwestern and the Atlantic 10's Temple visiting, and the Patriot League's American rounding out the four-team tournament.
Regional foe Delaware makes the trip down Interstate 95 for a mid-week game on Sept. 13, then Maryland begins conference play on Sept. 16 against Boston College and closes out the homestand hosting James Madison on Sept. 17, also a regional opponent.
Back-to-back road trips to Wake Forest on Sept. 23 and Virginia on Sept. 29 will put Maryland halfway through the rigorous conference slate. The Demon Deacons will be looking to avenge a loss in last year's ACC Championship game.
The Terps head over to Big Ten territory to play a neutral-site game in State College, Pa., against conference power Michigan on Oct. 1, then return home for an NCAA final rematch against Duke on Oct. 7.
Ivy League Champion Princeton hosts the NCAA Champions on Oct. 10, then Maryland travels to Norfolk, Va., to battle the Lady Monarchs on Oct. 14.
The regular season wraps up with a four-game homestretch, beginning with a game against the America East's Albany on Oct. 15, followed by an area-clash with local rival American on Oct. 18. The battle with the Eagles has become one of the must-watch games of the season. Both teams have been among the top five in the nation in the last three meetings.
Maryland hosts North Carolina for the final regular-season ACC game on Oct. 22, then Appalachian State will be the final preparation game on Oct. 27, and will also be the 2006 senior class' final regular home game, before the Terps head into the postseason.
The prestigious ACC Championship will be hosted in Chapel Hill, N.C., by the Tar Heels. With all five of six teams consistently finding a spot among the national top 20, it will be a battle to take the crown away from the current reigning champion Maryland.
Finally, the journey to the national title game begins at campus sites on Nov. 11-12, with the semifinals on Nov. 17 and championship game on Nov. 19 taking place in Winston-Salem, N.C.
