STOCKTON, Calif. – The fourth-ranked Maryland field hockey team (1-0) won its 23^rd straight season opener Friday night, 3-0, with a dominant showing at Pacific.
 
Newcomer junior Nike Lorenz notched all three of the Terrapins' goals in her Maryland debut. She scored all three in the first half of the Terps' victory.
 
"It's super exciting to open the season with a win over a dominant team like Pacific, that has won the west division of the America East conference the last few years," head coach Missy Meharg said. "Nike Lorenz and the German National Team actually played against Pacific's goalkeeper [Marlise van Tonder] with the South African team in the World Cup in London just a few weeks ago, and they were in the same pool.
 
We played really well in the second half, even though all of our scoring came in the first. We had opportunities off penalty corners and were able to score. It was great to see so many players in the game in an opener. One of our tri-captains, Julie Duncan, was our player of the game for her incredible spark and energy in our attack."
 
Lorenz's first strike came in the 17^th minute when she flung a shot off a penalty corner into the bottom right corner of the cage. Juniors Kelee Lepage and Madison Maguire picked up assists.
 
Just over two and a half minutes later, Lorenz struck again off a penalty corner, set up once more by Lepage and Maguire, to make it a two-goal lead.
 
Lorenz finalized her hat trick when she banged in a shot off a loose ball from the left side of the circle. Redshirt freshman Mayv Clune picked up her first career assist after she tapped the ball out to Lorenz for an open look.
 
The Terrapins outshot the Tigers (0-1), 27-2 and had three corners to none. Senior goalkeeper Sarah Holliday notched a save.
 
The Terps are now 41-3-2 in season openers and 5-0 all-time vs. Pacific.
 
Maryland will take on Cal in Berkeley Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and UC Davis in Berkeley as well Monday at 2 p.m. ET. Fans can watch the games vs. Cal and UC Davis here and follow live stats for those two games here. Fans can also follow the Terps' Twitter feed for live updates here.
 
Maryland was tabbed as the No. 4 team in the country in the Penn Monto/Division I Coaches Preseason poll released Aug. 21. The Terrapins have started the year in the top 10 in each of the last 20 years, since 1999.
 
Senior Linnea Gonzales, Lepage and sophomore Brooke DeBerdine earned Big Ten Preseason honors earlier this week. 
 
After their weekend swing in California, the Terrapins will return home to host No. 3 Duke, No. 12 Northwestern and No. 13 Boston College in the Big Ten/ACC Cup Labor Day Weekend. The Terps will play the Eagles Friday at 7 p.m. and the Blue Devils Sunday at 2 p.m.