umterps Notebook: Spring Sports Heating Up
3/30/2016 11:30:00 AM | Terrapin Athletics
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The winter sports are winding down, but the spring sports are just heating up with Big Ten openers on the horizon for the men's and women's lacrosse teams. This week's umterps Notebook dives into those games and more.
Opening B1G
In the sport of women's lacrosse it doesn't get any bigger than Maryland vs. Northwestern.
Consider these facts:
- The Terps and Wildcats have combined to win 10 of the last 11 national championships.
- Maryland and Northwestern student-athletes have won 10 consecutive Tewaaraton Awards between three Terrapins (Taylor Cummings ('15, '14), Katie Schwarzmann ('13, '12) and Caitlin McFadden ('10) and three Wildcats (Shannon Smith '11), Hannah Neilson ('09, '08) and Kristen Kjellman ('07, '06).
- Maryland has appeared in seven consecutive Final Fours, while Northwestern had a streak of 10 straight Final Fours come to an end in 2015 at the hands of Maryland in the quarterfinals.
The Terrapins hold an all-time record of 10-6 vs. the Wildcats in a series that dates back to 1985. From 1985 through 1991 Maryland won six of eight meetings, all of which took place in College Park.
Northwestern's head coach at the time was Cindy Timchal, who was hired by Maryland to take over for the legendary Sue Tyler prior to the 1991 season. Under Timchal's tenure at Maryland, the Terps won eight NCAA championships.
Northwestern dropped women's lacrosse as a varsity sport following the 1992 season and it didn't return until 2002 under the guidance of Maryland alum Kelly Amote-Hiller.
The two teams didn't meet until 2006. Northwestern won the 2006 and 2007 meetings, the later of which was Maryland's first-ever trip to Evanston, Ill.
The Terrapins got a measure of revenge in 2010 by ending Northwestern's streak of five-straight NCAA titles with a 13-11 win in the national championship game on May 30 in Towson.
Northwestern took the next two meetings in the NCAA tournament in 2011 and 2012, including a one-goal win in the 2011 NCAA title game.
After not playing in 2013, the two dominant teams of the past decade met again in the NCAA semifinals in 2014 with Maryland winning 9-6 en route to another NCAA championship.
Last season saw Maryland enter the Big Ten Conference, guaranteeing the two teams would meet at least once every season.
As things would turn out the Terps and Wildcats would meet twice. Maryland dominated the first-ever conference meeting between the two schools, 16-5, at Northwestern.
The two teams didn't meet in the inaugural Big Ten tournament, but clashed once again in the NCAA tournament. Maryland once again dominated with a 17-5 victory in the NCAA quarterfinals in College Park. It was the first NCAA game between the two teams not in the Final Four since a quarterfinal meeting in 1986.
Northwestern comes into this year's meeting with a 4-4 record, but don't be fooled. All four losses have come to ranked opponents with three of those coming on the road. The only home loss for the No. 15 Wildcats was an overtime defeat to No. 4 North Carolina.
Maryland is the undisputed No. 1 team in the nation with a perfect 8-0 record following an 18-6 home win over James Madsion this past Saturday.
The Terps and Wildcats are schedule for a 7 p.m. start on Thursday, March 31 at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex in College Park (Buy Tickets). The game will also be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network and streamed via the BTN2Go app.
Maryland will also host Cornell this Saturday at 7 p.m. (Buy Tickets) The Terps-Big Red game will also be streamed on BTN2Go.
Going B1G In The Big House
While the women's lacrosse team is playing one of its long-time rivals in its Big Ten opener, the Maryland men's lacrosse team is playing the conference foe it has the least history with to open Big Ten play.
The No. 5 Terps (6-2) head to Ann Arbor, Mich., to play in Michigan Stadium – better known to most as “The Big House” for just the second time ever this Saturday to take on the Wolverines .
Maryland and Michigan have met just twice previously. The first meeting was in 2014 when the Terrapins headed to The Big House for a mid-week non-conference game. The Terps were the No. 1 team in the country for that meeting and cruised to a 13-5 win behind a four-goal outing from Jay Carlson.
The two squads met for the first time as conference opponents last season in College Park in the inaugural Big Ten game for both teams. Maryland once again put up 13 goals in a 13-4 victory. Matt Rambo led the offensive attack with a hat trick, while goalie Kyle Bernlohr allowed just three goals in more than 54 minutes of work with six saves.
The Terps are hitting their conference schedule on a high note, having won five straight games with the average margin of victory being 5.4 goals.
During the five-game winning streak Rambo and fellow junior attackman Colin Heacock have been on fire. Each have posted multiple-point games in every game during the stretch and have each totaled 16 points. Heacock has the slight edge in goals with 14 goals and two assists, while Rambo has 13 goals and three assists.
Maryland is also getting terrific production from its midfield, especially sophomore Connor Kelly and senior Bryan Cole.
Kelly and Cole have each posted multiple points in the Terps' last four outings. In the past four games, Kelly has totaled 13 points on seven goals and six assists, while Cole has put up 10 points on five goals and five assists.
Another key factor in Maryland's recent success has been the play of freshman Austin Henningsen at the faceoff X. Over the last five games he has won 60 of 97 faceoffs for a .619 winning percentage with 26 groundballs.
The Terps and Wolverines are set for a 1 p.m. start and will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network and streamed via the BTN2Go app.
FYI … Maryland has won its past four conference openers. The last time the Terps dropped a conference opener was 2011 when the No. 3 Terps dropped a 9-8 decision in overtime at No. 19 Duke.
A Bitter-Sweet Ending
The Maryland men's basketball team's terrific 2015-16 season came to an end in the Sweet 16 last Thursday with a 79-63 loss to No. 1-seed Kansas.
The result certainly wasn't what any Terrapin fan hoped for, but it should do nothing to take away from what the team accomplished this season.
In fact, something happened this season that has never happened before in the history of Maryland men's basketball.
This season is the first time that five Maryland players have finished the season with each scoring 400 or more points.
Melo Trimble led the way with 534 points and became just the second player in Maryland history to score 500 or more points in each of his freshman and sophomore seasons (Joe Smith was the first).
Diamond Stone was next with 436 points, which ranks fourth on the Terps' all-time freshman scoring list and is the second-most ever for a front-court player (behind only Joe Smith's 582 points in 1994).
Robert Carter was also safely beyond the 400-point mark with 443. Jake Layman and Rasheed Sulaimon both topped 400 points in the NCAA tournament. Layman finished with 416 points, while Sulaimon's 18-point effort vs. Kansas gave him 405 for the season.
This year also marked just the second time in program history that at least five Terps finished scoring at least 11.0 points per game.
Trimble (14.8), Stone (12.5), Carter (12.3), Layman (11.6) and Sulaimon (11.3) all topped the 11.0 threshold.
The only other time this happened was 1974-75 when six Terps topped 11.0 points per game: John Lucas (19.5), Owen Brown (14.9), Steve Sheppard (14.3), Maurice Howard (13.4), Brad Davis (12.6), Tom Roy (11.0).
That 1974-75 team finished with a 23-7 record and only Lucas (469), Brown (431) and Sheppard (416) topped the 400-point mark.
Quick Hitters:
• The Maryland baseball team had a rough start to its Big Ten season with a 1-2 start at Iowa this past weekend, but Coach John Szefc and company had to be pleased with the work of Taylor Bloom (7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 K) and Brian Shaffer (9.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 K).
• The Terp softball team also struggled in its opened conference series dropping three games at Ohio State. Things don't get any easier for Coach Julie Wright's squad when they welcome No. 23 Nebraska to the Maryland Softball Stadium for a three-game series this weekend. The Friday and Sunday games are scheduled to be streamed on BTN2Go.
• The outdoor track and field season kicked off in earnest this weekend with the Maryland Invitational. The Terp women's team dominated the field for the team win, while the men's squad finished third.
• Good luck to Kathy Tang, Emily Brauckmuller, Abbie Epperson, Dominiquea Trotter, Evelyn Nee and Macey Roberts of the Maryland gymnastics team as they prepare to compete at the Athens NCAA Regional on Saturday, April 2 at 4 p.m.
Tang was selected to compete on vault and floor and as an alternate on bars. Epperson will compete on bars and Roberts earned a bid for floor. Trotter was selected as an alternate on vault, Nee will be an alternate on beam and Brauckmuller will be an alternate on floor.
Tang and Epperson will compete in the first group of individual event specialists while Roberts will compete with group two.
• The second installment of the Maryland football team's spring series is now live and it focuses on the Champions Club.
Coach Durkin is asking the players to buy in and they're responding, but it doesn't stop there. Terrapin Nation needs to buy in too and that starts with supporting the scholarship effort by becoming a Terrapin Club Scholarship Fund donor and then buying season tickets to see the Terps this season at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium.
Wrapping Up
That's it for this edition of the umterps Notebook. Don't forget to follow Maryland athletics on all of the social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Patrick Fischer is the Director of Digital Media and Website Management for the University of Maryland Department of Intercollegiate AthleticsThe views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Maryland athletics department or its athletics programs.
