ROSEMONT, Ill. – Senior Sarah Sprink and freshman Linnea Gonzales of the eighth-ranked Maryland field hockey team (10-3, 4-0 Big Ten) garnered Big Ten weekly awards Tuesday. Sprink was named Co-Defensive Player of the Week for third time in her career and Gonzales earned her third Freshman of the Week honor.
The two honors are the sixth and seventh of the season for Maryland, who sits atop the Big Ten standings at 4-0 in league play. This is the first honor of the season for Sprink, who was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last year.
Sprink helped lead Maryland at both ends of the field with three goals and an assist in the Terrapins' wins at Ohio State and Miami (Ohio). She notched both game-winning goals on the weekend. She took two shots and scored on both at Ohio State, scoring 59 seconds into the match and then again in the 55th minute. At Miami, she scored the gamewinner 8:41 into the match and assisted on the score with 15 seconds left.
Gonzales kept up her offensive dominance, scoring in each of the Terrapins' wins. She leads the Terrapins in scoring with 10 goals this season. At Ohio State, Gonzales scored the Terps' second goal to give them a 2-0 lead 12 minutes into the match, off a rebound. At Miami, she scored their second goal once again, this time 13 minutes in, to help seal the Terps' eighth straight victory.
Head coach Missy Meharg picked up career win No. 500 Sunday as the Terrapins won at Miami (Ohio), 6-2.
Meharg, who is now in her 28th season as head coach of the Terrapins, is the fourth Division I head coach to reach the mark. In her tenure as head coach, she's led Maryland to seven NCAA titles, 16 Final Fours, 20 conference championships, and has been named NFHCA National Coach of the Year an unprecedented nine times. Her career record is 500-122-9 (.800).
Maryland is ranked No. 8 in the latest Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll, released Oct. 6.
Next, Maryland will play at Penn State (5-6, 1-2) Friday at 4 p.m. at the Nittany Lions' Field Hockey Complex. Live Stats will be available and updates will also be posted to the Maryland Field Hockey Twitter feed.
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