Oct. 27, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Senior goalkeeper Alicia Grater of the top-ranked Maryland field hockey team earned the Atlantic Coast Conference's Field Hockey Co-Player of the Week award the league announced Tuesday. She won the award for her impressive performance in the Terps' 4-1 win over No. 2 North Carolina Saturday afternoon.

Grater, a native of Gilbertsville, Pa., helped the Terrapins to a 5-0 ACC record over the weekend and a 17-0 record on the year, the first in school history. In the Terps' win over the Tar Heels, she notched 12 saves, a new career high. She faced 21 shots with 13 of them on goal. Early in the first half, North Carolina outshot Maryland 8-1 and Grater was the driving force to keep the Tar Heels shut out. She held the Tar Heels scoreless until the final minute of the game.

"Alicia's performance in the opening 15 minutes showed incredible leadership and confidence in a match of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in Chapel Hill," head coach Missy Meharg said. "It can be a challenging environment and Alicia stayed so composed and led Maryland in our game. It's no surprise she had a career-high save record."

Her saves percentage of 86 percent is second in the nation. She has given up just 12 goals this year with a save percentage of 0.77.

With the win, the Terps captured the ACC regular season title and the No. 1-seed in the ACC tournament. It is the first time since 1999 that the Terps have been undefeated in regular season ACC play.

Grater shares the award with Kristine Stigas, goalkeeper for No. 10 Boston College. The Eagles defeated No. 5 Syracuse over the weekend, 1-0. Stigas faced 17 shots and denied the Orangemen a goal.

Maryland is currently ranked No. 1 in the Kookaburra/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. Grater and the rest of the Terps will host No. 12 Stanford Friday night at 7 p.m. The Terps will be celebrating senior night with the seven seniors. Grater, Brianna Davies, Kristina Foster, Alexis Pappas, Nicole Muracco, Emma Thomas, and Ameliet Rischen will all be honored prior to Friday's game.