Terrapins Honored With Multiple Big Ten Awards
11/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The second-ranked Maryland field hockey team picked up numerous individual honors from the Big Ten conference Wednesday in the Terps' first season in the league. Senior Maxine Fluharty was named Big Ten Player of the Year, junior Sarah Sprink was named Defensive Player of the Year and Moira Putsch earned the Freshman of the Year honor. Head coach Missy Meharg was named Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Redshirt senior Brooke Cabrera, senior Katie Gerzabek and junior Anna Dessoye were all named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. Fluharty and Sprink were named to the First Team. Junior Alyssa Parker was honored with one of the league's Sportsmanship Awards.
Fluharty has been a four-year starter for the Terrapins and was named an NFHCA All-American in 2013. She leads the nation's top offense in scoring with 15 goals, including four game-winning scores, and three assists. The senior captain helps guide an offense that leads the country in scoring margin (3.24) and scoring average (4.41).
Sprink, also a 2013 NFHCA All-American, has helped the Terrapins at both ends of the field. She's scored 12 goals with five assists, as well as making a huge impact on the defensive end. The junior has helped anchor a defense that has allowed just 21 goals scored in 18 games and held its opponents a .144 shot percentage.
Putsch scored 11 goals on the year with six assists for 28 points. Four of her goals were in conference play as she helped the Terrapins to their first Big Ten title. The rookie was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week four times over the 10-week season.
Meharg and her staff orchestrated the Terps' run over the last month to the Big Ten regular season title. They have won 11 straight games, including seven consecutive conference matches, after dropping their first Big Ten match of the season back in September. She's led the Terrapins to a record of 487-117-9 for a winning percentage of .802 over her 27 years at the helm of the program. Meharg has earned conference coach of the year honors eight times in her career.
“On behalf of our entire Maryland athletics family, I'd like to congratulate Missy, Maxine, Sarah, Moira and all eight of our Terps on their well-deserved Big Ten honors,” director of athletics Kevin Anderson said. “They have represented what it means to be a Terrapin so well and have led Maryland off to a great start in our first year in the Big Ten."
“Awards like this are a testament to an amazing team,” Meharg said. “Maryland is honored to be recognized in these categories with so many great competitors from the other Big Ten universities. Dina, Joppe and Steve are tremendous coaches. It takes a tremendous team of women to play great field hockey to afford Maxine as Player of the Year, Sarah as Defensive Player of the Year and Moira as Freshman of the Year, as well as Katie, Brooke and Anna to the All-Big Ten Teams and Alyssa with her Sportsmanship Award.”
Cabrera led the league in goals against average as she allowed just 1.17 per game. She picked up six shutouts this year to lead the Big Ten. Gerzabek notched 20 assists on the season, which was the most in the Big Ten and third-most in the country. Dessoye picked up a team-high 38 points on the season, off of 11 goals and 16 assists. She was third in the league in assists and fourth in points.
Parker has scored seven goals on the year, including six in the Terps' last seven games.
Maryland (16-2, 7-1 B1G) will be the top seed in its first Big Ten Tournament, which begins Thursday at Michigan's Phyllis Ocker Field in Ann Arbor. The Terrapins will take on eighth-seeded Ohio State (6-11, 1-7) Thursday at 10 a.m.
Thursday's four quarterfinal matchups will be streamed online through BTN Plus and will require a subscription. International fans can watch all of the Terps' tournament action at http://international.btn2go.com/ with a subscription.
Live Stats will be available for the Terps-Buckeyes game. Live updates will also be posted to the Maryland Field Hockey Twitter feed, so "Follow" to get the most recent updates.
Friday's Semifinals and Sunday's Big Ten championship game will be televised around the world on the Big Ten Network and the BTN2Go app. Click here to get your channel number for BTN.
Log on to umterps.com for full information on the Terps' first trip to the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament, or visit the tournament central at http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-fieldh/spec-rel/big-ten-2014.html.
Maryland beat Ohio State, 6-0, on Oct. 3 in College Park. Senior Katie Gerzabek led the way with six points off of two goals and two assists on the day. For the full recap, log on to umterps.com.
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