THE MATCHUP
Saturday, May 18, 7:00 p.m. -- vs. Denver
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The top-seeded Maryland women's lacrosse team will look to reach their 11th-straight Final Four, hosting Denver in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on the Big Ten Network with Mark Dixon and Sheehan Stanwick Burch on the call.
HOW WE GOT HERE
• Down 4-0 early, the No. 1 seeded Maryland women's lacrosse team outscored Stony Brook 17-4 in the rest of the game to win 17-8 and advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the 13th straight season.
• In the Big Ten Tournament, Maryland lost for the first time all season to No. 5 Northwestern in the championship after defeating Penn State in the semifinals, led by five goals from graduate student Erica Evans and strong defensive play, causing 13 turnovers,
• The No. 2 Maryland women's lacrosse team capped off a perfect regular season with a 19-12 win over No. 23 Johns Hopkins to win their fifth-straight Big Ten Outright Regular Season Championship.
MEET THE TERPS
• The Terps are led by the midfield corps of senior Jen Giles and transfer Erica Evans. Giles, a Tewaaraton Finalist, leads the Terps with 53 goals, 22 assists, 75 points and is second with 33 groundballs. Evans is tied for the team lead with 53 goals and 66 points. Evans has been on a tear lately, scoring 31 goals in the past eight games and 26 in the past six and was named the National Player of the Week this week.
• Maryland is once again backlined by senior Megan Taylor, who has had an incredible 2019 season, leading the country with a .559 save percentage at 185 saves to 146 goals allowed. Taylor was named the B1G Defensive Player of the Week six weeks in a row and earned three IWLCA National Player of the Week honors and is only the second goalie ever to be named a Tewaaraton Finalist.
• The attack is spearheaded by junior Kali Hartshorn and senior Caroline Steele. Hartshorn and Steele are third and fourth on the team respectively in points with 59 and 56 apiece. Hartshorn leads Maryland with 124 draw controls.
• Senior Julia Braig and junior Lizzie Colson guide the Maryland defense. Braig leads the Terps with 20 caused turnovers while Colson stands right behind her with 19, leads the team with 35 groundballs and stands second with 107 draw controls.
MARYLAND LEADERS
GOALS - Erica Evans, Jen Giles (53)
ASSISTS - Jen Giles (22)
POINTS - Jen Giles (75)
DRAW CONTROLS - Kali Hartshorn (124)
GROUNDBALLS - Lizzie Colson (35)
CAUSED TURNOVERS - Julia Braig (20)
SAVES - Megan Taylor (185)
TERPS IN THE TOURNEY
• This is Maryland's 30th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the longest run in the country. The Terps have made 10-straight Final Fours, lead the nation with 35 NCAA appearances and are also tops in wins (72), championship game appearances (21) and NCAA titles (13).
• Maryland is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh-straight season. Under Cathy Reese, the Terps are 33-8 in the NCAA Tournament, have won four National Championships, made 10 Final Fours and the reached championship game eight times.
HOME DOMINANCE
• Maryland is on a 86-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.
• Maryland's senior class is looking to close out their career at home on Saturday with a 45-0 record.
REESE BECOMES MARYLAND'S ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACH
• In Maryland's No. 8 Virginia, head coach Cathy Reese became the program's all-time winningest coach, breaking her former college coach and eight-time National Champion, Cindy Timchal's record.
• Reese, in her 13th season at the helm of the program is now 267-21 as the head coach of Maryland and has won four National Championships.
GILES & TAYLOR NAMED TEWAARATON FINALISTS
• Two Terps, seniors Jen Giles and Megan Taylor, were named finalists for lacrosse's most prestigious honor, the Tewaaraton Award last Thursday evening. This is both Giles and Taylor's first time being named Tewaaraton finalists. Taylor is only the second goalie ever to be a finalist for the prestigious award and the first since 2013.
• Maryland has produced eight Tewaaraton winners, the most in the history of the award, including winning in six of the past seven years. The Terps have had 25 finalists in the 19 years of the award. This is the 13th straight season that Maryland has had at least one finalist for lacrosse's most esteemed honor and the eighth time that Maryland's had two finalists.
FOUR TERPS GARNER TOP BIG TEN HONORS
• Senior Jen Giles was named the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, senior Julia Braig was selected as the Big Ten Defender of the Year and senior Megan Taylorearned Big Ten Goaltender of the Year honors, the Big Ten announced on Monday.
• Head coach Cathy Reese was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth time in five years in the conference, marking the 11th time in Reese's career she's been named conference coach of the year.
• Maryland has won the Big Ten Defender of the Year award in each of its five years in the conference, with Braig now becoming the first Terp to win twice, while this is Taylor's fourth year in a row winning Goaltender of the Year. Giles is the third Maryland midfielder to earn Midfielder of the Year honors, joining Taylor Cummings (2015-16) and Zoe Stukenberg (2017).
AWARD TIME FOR MEGAN TAYLOR
• Senior Megan Taylor has won a handful of awards over the past weeks, garnering Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors in each of the past six weeks and IWLCA National Player of the Week honors on March 13 and 20 and April 10.
• Taylor leads the NCAA with a .559 save percentage, having saved 185 shots to only allowing 146 goals. The senior also is third in the country with a 8.11 goals against average. Taylor and Maryland have the third best scoring defense in the country, only allowing 7.75 goals per game.
• With her 700th save a few weeks ago against Northwestern, Taylor has the most career-saves of any goalie in the country.
EVANS NAMED BRINE/US LACROSSE NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Graduate student Erica Evans was named the Brine/US Lacrosse National Player of the Week, US Lacrosse announced Tuesday.
• Evans was huge in Maryland's 17-8 win over Stony Brook, scoring five goals and notching two assists, all in the first half, to bring Maryland back from 4-0 down to take an 11-6 lead at halftime, going on a personal 4-0 run in the process.
FIVE TERPS SELECTED IN WPLL DRAFT
• The Maryland women's lacrosse team had a nation-best five players selected in the 2019 Women's Professional Lacrosse League Collegiate Draft on April 25.
• Erica Evans and Jen Giles were selected fifth and sixth overall by the Pride, Julia Braig was picked 18th overall by the Command, Megan Taylor was the 21st pick by the Fight and Caroline Steele was selected 25th overall, joining Evans and Giles on the Pride.
• Evans and Giles were the first and second midfielders selected in the draft, Taylor was the only goalkeeper selected and Braig was the second defender off the board.
• With the selections of Evans, Giles, Braig, Taylor and Steele, there are now 20 Terps in the WPLL, the most in the country. Northwestern and North Carolina have the next most with 12 apiece.
MARYLAND DAIRY INTRODUCES CATHY REESE'S VICTORY SWIRL
• The Maryland Dairy, located in the Stamp Student Union has made an ice cream for head coach Cathy Reese, "Cathy Reese's Victory Swirl" debuted it at their shop on Monday.
• The ice cream, which Reese picked out herself, includes vanilla ice cream, reeses peanut butter cups, reeses pieces and a chocolate fudge swirl.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
• Denver is ranked 17th in the country in the IWLCA Poll and last week upset both USC and No. 8 Michigan to reach the first quarterfinals in their program's history. In addition to USC and Michigan, Denver defeated top-25 opponents Stanford, Stony Brook, Colorado and Georgetown this season.
• Maryland is 3-0 all-time against Denver.
• Maryland and Denver met in last year's NCAA Tournament second round, with Maryland winning 15-4. Megan Taylor was strong in the cage, posting 11 saves, a .733 save percentage. The Terps caused numerous shot clock violations and were aided by 17 Denver turnovers.
