Field Hockey’s Finest: Missy Meharg Wins Her 600th Game
Matt Gilpin, Maryland Athletics Staff Writer
10/19/2021
As the dust settled on Maryland field hockey coach Missy Meharg’s 600th win, she slowly crept to the locker room alongside team captain Brooke DeBerdine, not knowing what would be waiting for her.
Her team, fresh off a 3-2 victory over No. 17 UConn, was laying in wait with confetti poppers and just waiting for its leader to enter through the doors.
When she crossed the threshold, pandemonium ensued as the team mobbed Meharg. As the cheers and chants grew louder, Meharg decided to make a confetti angel on the locker room floor, celebrating a victory over three decades in the making.
Gallery: #8 Field Hockey vs. #17 UConn Huskies
Truly the #BestOfTheBest!
— Damon Evans (@Evans_TerpsAD) October 17, 2021
Congratulations to @MissyMeharg on her 600th win as head coach of @TerpsFH! Most wins of any coach in any sport in Maryland history. #OneMaryland pic.twitter.com/FXBznEa6OQ
Meharg is the first coach in Maryland athletics history to reach the 600-win mark and is also the all-time winningest coach in the school’s history with a record of 600-154-9 (.792). On Sunday afternoon, she became just the third Division I field hockey coach to reach the mark.
“What it means is the University, the region, the school, has been able to have the very best field hockey players choose the University of Maryland,” Meharg said. “I've been really fortunate to coach great athletes who love to win, and they would tell you that winners win."
Meharg has put together one of the gaudiest resumés in all of college sports with her 26 Conference Titles, 19 Final Fours, nine National Coach of the Year awards, and most importantly, her seven national championships.
There almost aren’t words that can describe Missy. Every single player who comes through this program will tell you about how amazing she is. She’s a coach, a leader, and a role model for all of us. This is the best program in the country, and it’s because of her and the quality of both athletes and people that she brings into it.Brooke DeBerdine
The players that Meharg has coached have been some of the greatest field hockey players in NCAA history. Many have been national champions, All-Americans, Honda Award winners, Olympians, and Maryland Athletics Hall of Famers.
Two of those players, Keli Smith Puzo and Paula Infante, are being inducted into this year’s Hall of Fame class, and both represent everything it means to be a Maryland field hockey player. To this day, they credit Meharg for building a program that all of the top recruits want to play for.
“I probably can’t give you a better human being and better mentor that I’ve ever had in my life,” Smith Puzo, a three-time All-American and 1999 NCAA Champion, said of Meharg. “Missy really is incredibly passionate about field hockey, but she cares deeply about every single individual and what their needs are. To this day, she’s still one of my best friends and greatest mentors, and I admire everything that she does, both as a coach, a mom, and just as a human being.”
Meharg grew up in southeast Pennsylvania, but her family maintained an International flair, with her mother teaching French and Latin at the Upland Country Day School. Her family would also travel to their home country of Italy every summer, where they would spend time in Turin and Rapallo.
She would go on to star at the University of Delaware as both a field hockey player and lacrosse player, but field hockey is where she made her mark. The 5-foot-2 spark plug was a feisty competitor, and that’s the coaching style she initially adopted when she arrived in College Park, at a point where she was still an active member of the US national team.
Over the years, she has since transformed from a ‘weird dragon with flames coming out of my head”, as she put it, to a docile, more stoic leader who is less animated on the sideline.
Those experiences gave Meharg a deep appreciation for different styles of players, especially the international athletes, which she used to her advantage in recruiting all different types of players, regardless of height, weight, personality, or country of origin.
Congrats to the ?? @MissyMeharg ?? #bethebest https://t.co/guGuxXQycs
— John Tillman (@CoachTillman1) October 18, 2021
Absolute Legend! Congrats @MissyMeharg! #bestofthebest https://t.co/4NUnHl1eoX
— Katie Dougherty (@coachkdough) October 17, 2021
GOAT status!!!! Congrats Coach!!!! https://t.co/zJp7R7SaYK
— Coach Clemsen (@alextclemsen) October 17, 2021
WOW! This is truly amazing- congrats @MissyMeharg ???????? https://t.co/XuwTe7SV0f
— Cathy Reese (@cathyreese5) October 17, 2021
Paula Infante, a native of Chile, was a two-time recipient of the Honda Award in 2005 and 2006, given to the top field hockey player in the country.
The midfielder was a four-time All-American and helped the team capture two national championships with the Terps. For her, so much of that success is credited to Meharg, and she’s grateful for her time spent under the Maryland coach’s leadership and within the already established culture.
“I think she runs an incredible program where diversity and international culture is always present, which makes all the foreigners feel welcome and call it home for as long as you are there,” Infante said. “Maryland has a great balance between hockey, academics, and culture. Missy gives you the confidence and assurance that Maryland will bring the best out of each student-athlete, and that for an international player is very important.”
I probably can’t give you a better human being and better mentor that I’ve ever had in my life. Missy really is incredibly passionate about field hockey, but she cares deeply about every single individual and what their needs are. To this day, she’s still one of my best friends and greatest mentors, and I admire everything that she does, both as a coach, a mom, and just as a human being.Keli Smith Puzo
When Meharg arrived in College Park in 1985 as an assistant coach, no one could predict the kind of success that she would have.
Just three years later, Meharg was promoted to the head coaching job, and while her first season in College Park was considered a success as her team went 11-9-1 and made the NCAA tournament, much more would be on the horizon.
Over her 34 years as head coach, Meharg has taken the field hockey program from great to elite as she’s cultivated what is considered to be the gold-standard program at Maryland.
In 2021, the program currently finds itself in the hunt for a national championship as they are once again ranked inside the top ten. This year’s captain, graduate student Brooke DeBerdine, has been Meharg’s go-to leader as she embodies everything Meharg wants in a captain.
DeBerdine and her sister, Emma, both play on the team, and the 2020 All-Big Ten First Team performer couldn’t imagine playing for anyone else.
“There almost aren’t words that can describe Missy,” Brooke DeBerdine said. “Every single player who comes through this program will tell you about how amazing she is. She’s a coach, a leader, and a role model for all of us. This is the best program in the country, and it’s because of her and the quality of both athletes and people that she brings into it.”
These sentiments are echoed throughout the entire Maryland field hockey family as Missy is a leader, a parental figure, and a friend for everyone who plays for the Terps.
Despite Meharg’s insistence that her players are the reason for the program’s success, the reality is that she has been the constant during these last 35 seasons. With everyone who’s come and gone from players, coaches, administrators, and staff, Meharg has been the mainstay.
So many incredible players have worn the red, white, black, and gold, but Meharg is the one who has always retooled year after year and found a way to stay at the top.
Now, with this accomplishment behind her, she looks to add to her gaudy, history-making record and claim more hardware for the program that she cares so deeply about. Meharg is not one to brag about her accomplishments, but even she recognizes this benchmark’s significance and historical importance.
“600 wins reflect the amazing women and coaches as they worked their way to being the greatest in the game and their lives afterward,” Meharg said. “I’m certainly honored.”
