Maryland Athletics 2022 Hall of Fame Spotlight: Sascha Newmarch

Very few teams ever approach the level of dominance the Maryland women’s lacrosse program exhibited throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, winning seven consecutive National Championships under coach Cindy Timchal. 

From 1995-98, Sascha Newmarch stood at the center of that prowess and helped lead the Terps to the first four championships of that run.

“She was definitely one of the main ones who started Maryland on the track of seven straight titles,” former Terp & National Lacrosse Hall of Famer Sarah Forbes said. “She brought a fierce drive to win, to be the best. Her dominance at midfielder was invaluable to the Maryland team for the four years she was there.”

Newmarch was named the 1998 National Player of the Year as a senior, the final bow on a historic career. The West Lakes, Australia, native was also a three-time All-American. 

Despite all the personal success, Newmarch has always preferred to keep the attention on the team. 

“The accolades are there, it’s nice to be recognized, but it’s not what I loved,” Newmarch said. “What I love about lacrosse is you have a whole team of players that are your family. Those people are your life.”

In October, Newmarch will be recognized on a grand scale as she will become the latest women’s lacrosse star inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame. And even now, as she finds herself in rare air, Newmarch still insists on keeping the focus on the team. 

“Being inducted is just a real reflection of what we achieved as a team because no one can have individual success without a fantastic team behind you,” Newmarch said. 

Newmarch rewrote the record books during her time as Terp. She finished her career fourth all-time in points (223), fifth in goals (149), and sixth all-time in assists (74). Additionally, she only lost four games throughout her four-year career, amassing a 75-4 record. 

“It was such a pleasant surprise,” Newmarch said of the induction. “It’s humbling to be acknowledged for something that happened many decades ago.” 

Current women’s lacrosse coach Cathy Reese is equally thrilled for her former teammate of four years to be honored. 

“I’m smiling just thinking about it,” Reese said. “There've been so many great women’s lacrosse players here throughout the years and to see someone that I played with be celebrated is so cool. To have her be able to come and be awarded in person is really special, especially because we haven’t seen her since ‘98 since she went home. It will be really cool for me to celebrate with her that night and to thank her for all her contributions.”

According to Newmarch, women’s lacrosse isn’t overly popular in Australia. She first got into the sport because her older brother played it—and she quickly had to figure out how to keep up with him. 

“I learned at a very young age that lacrosse balls hurt when they hit you, so I had to learn how to actually catch them,” Newmarch said. 

Newmarch almost gave up the sport completely when she was 12. Lacrosse and handball seasons coincided, and all her school friends played the latter. Fortunately for Newmarch and Terp fans, one of her first coaches refused to let her follow through with it. On the day she was set to choose handball, he called her and told her clearly that she would not quit and to be ready in 30 minutes because he was picking her up for a training session. 

“I never looked back after that,” Newmarch said. “Pretty soon after, it became my dream to play college lacrosse in the US.”

The first time Newmarch set foot on Maryland’s campus, that dream of playing college lacrosse expanded to include doing it as a Terp.

She was playing for the Senior Australian National team when it happened, a very impressive feat for being just 18 at the time, and her team had traveled to College Park to face the USA team. Newmarch knew it was where she needed to be when she saw everything Maryland had to offer.

“When I saw this university, it was just completely different from any university we had in Australia,” Newmarch said. “The size of it, the beauty of the buildings, it was just a dream to play there. I didn’t even look at any other universities.”

Enrolling in Maryland as soon as possible became a no-brainer. 

“I jumped at the chance to play there,” Newmarch said. “I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to go to Maryland.”

The draw of the campus never wore off for Newmarch. She enjoyed everything about her Maryland experience—her teammates most of all. 

“We had so many wins, but we really connected well as a team and we played for each other,” Newmarch said. “It’s very much the tradition and culture that has continued in the program today. We all wanted to play for each other and I think that’s what really brought us together and allowed us to have the success we did have.”

Coming in with a plethora of international experience under her belt, Newmarch immediately impacted the program. 

“She had a lot of experience with playing for Australia, she was a little older than the rest of our class, and she came in and just dominated right away,” Reese said. “She was a two-way middie and did a really nice job on the draw. She was just super athletic, competitive and made a huge difference right away starting as a freshman.”

Newmarch initially found the transition from Australia daunting, but it was made much easier by the family-first atmosphere she found in the women’s lacrosse program.

“There was not one Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter or any other celebration where a family didn’t embrace myself and the other international players,” Newmarch said. “We were all brought into this family and looked after and loved.”

Additionally, Newmarch fell in love with the rigorous training schedule. She went from working out a few times a week to doing it every day. She also began lifting weights for the first time ever.

“For me, as someone who loved lacrosse so much, I just thought that was an amazing opportunity,” Newmarch said. “I got to live and breathe lacrosse every day.”

Her teammates adored being around her competitive nature and dedication to the game. 

“She’s one of my absolute favorite players to have played with,” Forbes said. “She loves lacrosse and she loves being the best. She loves working hard and doing whatever it takes to win. She got herself and her teammates, really everyone, to improve and be better. She’s my number one that I would play with anywhere, anytime.” 

Newmarch held herself and her teammates to high standards, pushing the group to improve. 

“She understood what we wanted to do from day one and didn’t want to settle for anything less than us demanding excellence of ourselves all the time,” Reese said.

Newmarch loves to reminisce about all the wins and the National Championships she experienced. But, funny enough, one of her best memories comes from a brief period of losing.

It happened during her final season when she was one of five seniors. There were no juniors on the roster; everyone else was an underclassman. Coming off three straight titles, with expectations still sky-high, the Terps dropped their first two games of the season to ACC-rivals Duke and North Carolina. But, instead of panic, Newmarch took the opportunity to progress as a leader and to instill the powerful program atmosphere in the younger players.

“We had to really bring everyone up to speed and remind them of what Maryland lacrosse is all about, the tradition and the culture,” Newmarch said. “I think once we had that in our minds we were able to turn our season around and that made it even sweeter in the end.”

Of course, the Terps won Newmarch’s final National Championship later that year—but the Maryland connections she made within the program continued for much longer. 

Newmarch continued to play with the Australian National Team until 2005. During the 2001 World Cup, she played against several former Terp teammates, including Kristin Sommar and Randall Goldsborough.

“I never shied away from giving Kristen Sommar a bit of a hip and shoulder out of fun love,” Newmarch said with a chuckle.

Newmarch got the last laugh in 2005, in a game played in Annapolis, as the Aussies beat the USA team to claim the World Cup title.

For Newmarch, that victory directly stemmed from Aussie players competing against top-notch talent in American universities, an accomplishment which she takes some credit for putting in motion. 

“I think (Sarah and I) helped to show that Aussies could actually play,” Newmarch said. “And I think after we came along a lot more Aussie players got chances to play in the US at really good universities and of course at Maryland.”

Forbes actually enrolled a year before Newmarch, as Newmarch stayed back to improve her academic standing, but Forbes credits her for creating the pipeline to Maryland. 

“I wouldn’t have gone (to Maryland) if it were not for Sascha,” Forbes said. “I’m in absolute debt to her for creating that opportunity for me. She was the one that paved the way. She had the vision, she had the drive and she made the connections. I think that’s one thing that Sascha does: she makes things happen.” 

The Aussie pipeline continued after Newmwarch and Forbes departed as standouts such as Jen Adams and Sarah Mollison also came over from Australia.

“It’s so exciting to see what we’ve been able to create there with all the other Aussies,” Newmarch said. “It’s all out of pure love of playing the game. I’m so grateful to have had the experiences that Maryland brought me and I wanted to give as many people as possible that opportunity.”

Newmarch’s legacy extends in many ways, and now her name will hang forever alongside elite company in the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame.

“I want to thank the coaches for believing in myself and the team, and for taking us to the level that they did,” Newmarch said. “I want to thank the M Club as well because obviously I would not be at the University of Maryland had they not been so generous with the scholarships they were offering at that time. I’m forever grateful for all of it.”