THE MATCHUP
Saturday, March 9 -- vs. No. 4 Syracuse
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The second-ranked Maryland women's lacrosse team will return home to open up a three-game home stand and play their third top-five opponent of the season, hosting No. 4 Syracuse at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium.
HOW WE GOT HERE
• Sophomore Grace Griffin tallied a career-best six points (five goals, one assist) to lead the No. 2 Maryland women's lacrosse team (5-0) to a 17-9 win at Hofstra last Saturday.
• Led by a defensive effort that saw the Terps allow their lowest goal total in 16 years, the No. 2 Maryland women's lacrosse team (4-0) ran past UMBC, 18-1, last Wednesday night.
• In the second period of overtime, senior Caroline Steele won the draw control, sprinted down the field and darted the game-winning goal to give the No. 2 Maryland women's lacrosse team (3-0) a 13-12 overtime win over No. 3 North Carolina (2-1) in Maryland's last home game.
MEET THE TERPS
• The Terps are led by the midfield corps of senior Jen Giles and transfer Erica Evans. Giles is avereaging three goals per game and leads the Terps with 15 goals, five assists, 20 points, 11 groundballs and four caused turnovers. Evans is second on the team with 16 points and has a hat-trick in each of Maryland's last two games.
• Maryland is once again be backlined by junior goalie Megan Taylor, who has had an impressive start to 2019, posting 44 saves over the first five games and only allowing 8.4 goals per game. This past week, Taylor was named the Big Ten Defensivee Player of the Week for the ninth time in her career.
• The attack is spearheaded by junior Kali Hartshorn and senior Caroline Steele. Hartshorn is second on the team with 12 goals and 21 draw controls, while Steele has nine goals in just three games and had the game winner in overtime vs. No. 3 North Carolina.
• Senior Julia Braig and junior Lizzie Colson guide the Maryland defense. Colson leads Maryland with 23 draw controls and the duo has combined for 14 groundballs.
MARYLAND LEADERS
GOALS - Jen Giles (15)
ASSISTS - Erica Evans & Jen Giles (5)
POINTS - Jen Giles (20)
DRAW CONTROLS - Lizzie Colson (23)
GROUNDBALLS - Jen Giles (11)
CAUSED TURNOVERS - Jen Giles (4)
SAVES - Megan Taylor (44)
HOME DOMINANCE
• Maryland is on a 79-game win streak in College Park and hasn't lost since March 10, 2012.
• This is the longest home winning streak in program history, last year eclipsing the previous long of 62 games.
TAYLOR TABBED BIG TEN DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Senior Megan Taylor has been named the Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the ninth time in her career, as announced by the conference on Tuesday.
• In Maryland's two wins at UMBC and Hofstra, Taylor posted 11 saves to only six goals allowed, a .647 save percentage. Taylor allowed only six goals in 64 minutes of play, a 5.63 goals against average. The Glenelg, Md. native was essential to holding UMBC to just one goal in the win, the lowest total Maryland has held an opponent to since 2003.
SIX TERPS SELECTED TO TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
• Six members of the No. 2 Maryland women's lacrosse team, the most in the country, were named to the initial Tewaaraton Watch List, as announced by the Tewaaraton Foundation Thursday evening.
• Graduate midfielder Erica Evans, four seniors: Julia Braig, Jen Giles, Caroline Steele and Megan Taylor and junior defender Lizzie Colson were all selected for the watch list.
• The Terps have the most players in the country named to the watch list. Each Terp named to the list was selected as a preseason All-American by Inside Lacrosse, while Braig, Giles and Taylor were named Maryland's Big Ten Players to Watch.
TERPS SELECT 2019 TEAM CAPTAINS
• Maryland has selected seniors Julia Braig, Jen Giles and Megan Taylor as team captains for the upcoming season. All three have played in every game of their Maryland career and are All-Americans. This is the second straight year Braig and Giles will serve as the team's captains and the first time for Taylor.
• Braig is the reigning Big Ten Defender of the Year and a First Team All-American. Giles was also a First Team All-American last season and recently played with Team USA at the Spring Premiere in California. Taylor has backlined for the Terps since the day she stepped foot and is the three-time reigning Big Ten Goaltender of the year. She was the 2017 IWLCA National Goaltender of the Year.
SCOUTING THE ORANGE
• No. 4 Syracuse stands at 6-1 this season with wins over No. 5 Northwestern and No. 6 Virginia, with their lone loss to No. 1 Boston College.
• Maryland is 22-1 all-time against Syracuse and has won 11 in a row.
• Last season, the Terps and Orange met in upstate New York, with Maryland winning the contest 18-11. Caroline Steele tallied a career-best seven points with five goals and two assists, while Taylor Hensh tied her career-best with four goals of her own to pace the Maryland offense. Both of Steele's assists came on a Hensh strike. The Terps held pace on offense, winning 22-of-30 draw controls, led by 13 from the duo of sophomore attacker Kali Hartshorn and junior midfielder Meghan Siverson.
