Aug. 24, 2012

Final Stats

BERKELEY, Calif. - The reigning national champion Maryland held off No. 16 California Friday for a 2-1 win in its season opener of 2012. The Terps and the Golden Bears were tied at the break, but sophomore Katie Gerzabek scored early in the second period for the win.

"This was a very exciting opening match for us," head coach Missy Meharg said. "Cal had a great fan base and there was a little bit of a definite home field advantage for them. It was very lively. We're really proud of how Maryland managed the game in the second half, given that we were up one goal most of the game. It was a stellar performance for our deep defense in Harriet Tibble, Ali McEvoy and Hayley Turner. It was just a great opening for us with mental vigilance in a tough second half."

Junior Jill Witmer scored the Terps' first goal of the season in the fourth minute when senior Megan Frazer passed it to her in front of the goal for a shot to the left corner.

Cal's Lara Kruggel tied it up in the 28th minute. Lauren Spellman set her up on a penalty corner for the score. The two teams were tied heading into the break.

Coming out of halftime, the Terrapins earned a penalty corner in the first minute of the second half. Gerzabek's score off a corner, set up by senior Janessa Pope and sophomore Maxine Fluharty, gave them the final 2-1 lead with 33:52 to go.

The Terps outshot the Bears, 11-9 and the corners were tied at six apiece.

Junior goalkeeper Natalie Hunter notched three saves in her complete game in the cage. Cal's Joelle van Hoorn had seven in her 66 minutes. Cal pulled her with four minutes remaining in the game.

The Terps were named the preseason No. 1 team in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches' poll, released Tuesday. They have been the preseason No. 1 team in three of the last four years.

On Sunday, the Terrapins will take on Stanford at 4 p.m. ET in Stanford, Calif. Sunday's game will be shown live on the Pac 12 Network. Please check your local listings here or watch online at http://video.pac-12.com/networks/pac-12-bayarea.

We apologize for viewing difficulties during Friday's game and hope to have them resolved for Sunday. GameTracker live stats will be available Sunday here and live updates can be found at https://twitter.com/TerpFieldHockey. No Twitter account is needed to view the updates.

In its home opener, Maryland will take on No. 3 Old Dominion at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31 in a rematch of 2011 Final Four matchup. The Terrapins blanked the Monarchs 4-0 last November en route to their eighth national title.