VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – After waiting 477 days to take the pitch, the Maryland field hockey team (1-0) opened the 2021 spring season with a 2-0 shutout of Michigan State (0-1) Friday afternoon at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
 
"What a great feeling to play good hockey, to score, to have a shutout," head coach Missy Meharg said. "We had a couple of corners against us and the communication with Noelle [Frost] and with the defense with awesome. Couldn't be happier for the women and for our staff and the journey we've been on. We're just excited to get out of the gate. We played a good brand of field hockey, so that's exciting. We'd love to always score more goals, but we're in good position to do so."
 
Senior Kyler Greenwalt deflected in the Terrapins' first goal of the season off a penalty corner over 2:00 into the second quarter. Junior Riley Donnelly had the initial look and Greenwalt got a stick on it to get the Terps on the board.
 
Later in the quarter, sophomore Sam Zywna, a Virginia Beach native, scored her first career goal as a Terrapin to give Maryland a two-goal lead just before halftime. Donnelly fed her from the left side and Zywna carried it in for the shot.
 
"It was awesome," Zywna said. "That's the first field I ever played field hockey on. I won a middle school city championship to high school city championships to club championships on that field and now to be able to play and score my first collegiate goal there was awesome. To have my teammates there with me and cheering me on, it was amazing."
 
Maryland outshot Michigan State, 18-2, and held the Spartans without a shot in the final three quarters. The Terrapins took eight penalty corners to the Spartans' two.
 
Senior goalkeeper Noelle Frost picked up one save in the match.
 
Next, Maryland will play Northwestern Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. Sunday's game will be streamed on BTN Plus and fans can watch with their BTN Plus subscriptions.
 
Fans can download the One Maryland app for updates throughout the season. Click here for Apple users and here for Android users.