No. 7 Maryland (0-0, 0-0 B1G) vs. No. 13 Syracuse (1-0, 0-0 ACC)
February 6, 2026
5 pm
JMA Wireless Done
ACCNX
COLLEGE PARK, MD -- Maryland opens its 53rd season of women's lacrosse in 2026. The Terps are ranked No. 7 in the preseason IWLCA preseason poll and are eighth in the US Lacrosse rankings. The Terrapins open 2026 on the road against No. 13 Syracuse at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Where We've Been
- The Terps are coming off a positive 2025 campaign, that saw Cathy Reese's squad earn an NCAA Second Round appearance. The Terrapins finished 2025 with a 15-6 overall record.
- Kori Edmondson is the Terps' leading returning scorer with 73 points on 59 goals. Maryland returns four of the top five leading scorers from last season.
- Maryland will be led by key All-American returners Kori Edmondson, Neve O'Ferrall, Kayla Gilmore, JJ Suriano, and Kennedy Major. Edmondson is coming off a standout junior season in which she was named the 2025 Big Ten Midfielder of the Year and a Tewaaraton Award Top-25 finalist.
- The Terps also welcome three transfers to College Park. Maryland native Keeley Block joins the program after four seasons at Penn. Block earned 2025 Second Team All-Ivy and Second Team IWLCA All-Region honors after starting 19 games and recording 42 goals last season.
- Graduate transfer Kristen Shanahan joins the Terps after playing at Notre Dame. A team captain for the Irish in 2025, Shannahan started 14 games and finished second on the team with 27 goals and 41 points.
- Senior goalkeeper Caitlin Boden joins the Terps after three seasons at James Madison. Boden finished her JMU career ranked fifth in program history in saves (196) and 19th in save percentage (.438).
- Maryland also welcomes nine freshmen to College Park, led by Ava Meyn and Sofia Herrera, who were both named to the Inside Lacrosse Freshman Power 100. Meyn was ranked No. 7, while Herrera checked in at No. 37. Meyn was also named USA Lacrosse Northeast Player of the Year.
Series history vs. The Orange
- This will be Maryland and Syracuse's 29th meeting all-time, with the Terps holding a 24-4 (.889) advantage.
- The two teams have split the last six meetings with each holding a 3-3 record, including a road win for each school. Maryland's last two wins over the Orange have come in OT (12-11 at home in 2019 and 9-8 at Syracuse in 2024).
- Maryland has won 12 of the last 15 against the Orange dating back to 2012, including wins in the 2013, 2015, and 2016 National Semifinals and a 15-12 win in the 2014 National Championship. The Terps and Orange met in every season from 2009-2020.
- Syracuse will enter year one of the Regy Thorpe era. Thorpe, a 'Cuse alum who spent 10 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach on Gary Gait's staffs in the 2010s, returns to New York.
- Syracuse will be led by Emma Muchnick, Coco Vandiver, Kaci Benoit and Caroline Trinkaus who all were named to the USA Lacrosse Preseason All-Americans list.
Season Openers
- Maryland is 41-11 (.804) all-time in season openers, dating back to the first varsity season in 1974.
- Under head coach Cathy Reese, the Terrapins have a 17–2 (.944) record in season openers. The lone blemishes came in 2021, when they lost 15–13 at Penn State, and last season, when they fell 15–9 to Syracuse.
- This marks the second time in back to back years that Maryland has played the Orange in a season opener.
Last season,
Kori Edmondson scored four total goals in the game against Syracuse, three of which came on free-position opportunities.
Dominance Under Reese
- Head Coach Cathy Reese is in her 20th season at the helm of Maryland women's lacrosse. The winningest coach in program history, Reese is 346-53 (.867) as head coach and has led the Terps to five National Championships, 12 Final Fours and 22 Conference Championships.
- Reese is the fifth all-time winningest active head coach and the sixth-winningest coach of all-time in Division 1 women's lacrosse at 376-82 (.821). Former Maryland head coach Cindy Timchal is the all-time winningest women's lacrosse coach with 578 wins.
- Reese has the highest winning percentage of any current Maryland head coach as a Terrapin head coach.
- Cathy Reese (WLax): 346-53 (.867)
- Missy Meharg (FH): 665-180-9 (.784)
- Brenda Frese (WBB): 624-175 (.781)
- John Tillman (MLax): 195-56 (.777)
- Sasho Cirovski (MSoc): 451-180-76 (.692)
- Maryland is 173-11 (.940) at home under Reese, with eight undefeated home campaigns in the last 11 seasons (2013, '14, '15, '16, '17, '18, '19, '21).
Cathy Reese was inducted into the IWLCA Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
winningest program in women's lacrosse
- Maryland is the winningest program in women's lacrosse, currently standing with a 803-162-3 record all-time. The Terps have won 82.9-percent of their games all time, also the highest winning percentage of all-time. With a win against No.8 Johns Hopkins, 13-11, in its regular season finale on Saturday. This was Maryland's 800th program win, the most by any women's college lacrosse program.
- Maryland: 803-168-3 (.826)
- Loyola (MD): 601-289-8 (.674)
- Penn State: 591-316-5 (.651)
- Virginia: 589-274-5 (.681)
- James Madison*: 571-340-3 (.626)
- * includes 3 seasons at D-II and 5 season undefined at stats.ncaa.org
- Head Coach Cathy Reese is the fifth all-time winningest active head coach and the seventh-winningest coach of all-time in Division 1 women's lacrosse at 376-82. Former Maryland head coach Cindy Timchal is the all-time winningest women's lacrosse coach with 593 wins.
- Cindy Timchal (NU, Maryland, Navy): 593-167 (.780)
- Jenny Levy (North Carolina): 443-130 (.773)
- Amanda O'Leary (Yale, Florida): 422-128 (.767)
- Kelly Amonte Hiller (Northwestern): 388-94 (.805)
- Cathy Reese (Denver, Maryland): 376-82 (.821)
