April 1, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The University of Maryland women's lacrosse team has completed its return to the top of the national rankings as it was announced today that the Terrapins are the new No. 1 in the latest IWLCA rankings.
The Terps -- who moved to 10-0 (3-0 ACC) after last weekend's ACC/ALC Challenge in Columbus, Ohio -- surpassed Loyola, which had been the nation's top team the three previous weeks. Both teams got four first-place votes in the most recent poll, but the Terrapins came away with one more vote overall (156-155), moving them from the second spot into the top spot. (The Terps have also been ranked atop the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse poll for the last two weeks.) The return to the top spot is Maryland's first since the 2002 preseason poll, a ranking it had held since 1998, a run that spanned 33-straight weeks.
The new ranking will get a challenge right off the bat as the Terps will take on local rival and sixth-ranked Georgetown in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The Hoyas got their first win ever against Maryland a year ago and the two teams have met in several big games over the course of the last few years, most notably the 2001 NCAA title game. Opening draw between the Terps and Hoyas (6-2) is slated for 4:00 p.m. on the Georgetown campus.
TERPNOTES
"D" The Difference
-- This year's Maryland team has a completely different look this year in many respects, but the one area that stands out as improved over last season is the Terps' look on the defensive end.
-- Through 10 games, the Terrapins are allowing 6.3 goals per game and has allowed just one opponent -- Penn State -- 10-goals in a game.
-- The Terp defense -- spearheaded by starting defenders
Molly Lambert,
Julie Shank,
Greta Sommers and
Laura Warren -- is clearly improved, already forcing 125 turnovers through 10 games (an average of 12.5 caused turnovers per game), but the most marked improvement of 2003 has come from senior netminder
Alexis Venechanos.
-- Venechanos leads the ACC with her .591 save percentage, a mark that is over 100 percentage points better than her career average coming into the season. She has made 88 saves and allowed just 61 goals, a large part of why Maryland is outscoring its opponents 118-63 this season.
Terps Take ACC Regular Season
-- With its win over Virginia on March 11, Maryland completed the biggest turnaround it has had to since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1997.
-- The Terrapins' impressive 11-8 win over the Cavaliers ended their ACC regular season and they did so without a blemish. After finishing last in the league with an 0-3 record a year ago, Maryland now claims the ACC regular season title, the top seed in April's conference tournament and a perfect conference record for the fourth time in its history.
-- Oddly enough, since 1997, the Terps have finished with a perfect regular season ACC record in each of its odd-numbered seasons. In 1997, 1999, 2001 and now 2003, the Terrapins own a 12-0 league mark, while in '98, 2000 and 2002, the team stands at 3-6. In addition, Maryland's record in those odd seasons has been astounding as it now owns a 75-1 mark in odd years since '97.
Head Coach Cindy Timchal
-- Head coach Cindy Timchal is in her 13th season at the helm of the Maryland women's lacrosse program. In her 12-plus years, she has established one of the most dominant teams in all of collegiate athletics as the Terrapins are 213-22 (.906) under her guidance, have earned 12 NCAA Tournament bids and have taken the crown eight times.
-- Timchal is one of the winningest coaches in the history of women's collegiate lacrosse. With the Terps' win over Princeton in the semifinals of the 2001 NCAA tournament, she tied the record of William Smith's Pat Genovese, who led all coaches with 267 wins. Despite a sub-par 2002 by Timchal's standards, she entered 2003 tied with Genovese on the all-time wins list with 279 while she is also in the all-time top five in games coached and winning percentage.
-- Timchal was selected as the '01 ACC Coach of the Year, her third time earning the honor. She has been chosen as National Coach of the Year twice and has coached players to All-American status 61 times in her career.
-- From the time of her arrival, Timchal has lost no more than three games in any one season, including a spectacular 21-0 season in 1999 and last year's 23-0 mark. She has led the Terps to the Final Four every year but one since coming to Maryland, reaching the title game an unbelievable 11 of the last 13 years.
-- Now in her 22nd season of coaching collegiate athletics overall, Timchal got her start at Northwestern where she led the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament five times in nine years. Her overall record (Maryland and Northwestern) currently stands at 289-62 (.823).
-- Timchal is assisted by a pair of her most successful proteges, Cathy Nelson and Jen Adams. Nelson is now the veteran of Terp assistants as she enters her fifth year. She is joined by Adams who is in her first season as a full-time coach after spending a year as an undergraduate assistant. From Nelson's freshman year in 1995 to Adams' senior season in 2001, the duo were a part of each of Maryland's seven-straight national championship seasons.
Timchal's Year-by-Year at Maryland
1991 NCAA Runners-up 14-3
1992 NCAA Champions 14-1
1993 NCAA Semifinalists 12-2
1994 NCAA Runners-Up 13-1
1995 NCAA Champions 17-0
1996 NCAA Champions 19-0
1997 NCAA Champions 21-1
1998 NCAA Champions 18-3
1999 NCAA Champions 21-0
2000 NCAA Champions 21-1
2001 NCAA Champions 23-0
2002 NCAA Quarterfinalists 11-10
2003 10-0
12+ Seasons @ Md. 213-22 (.906)
Terps Lauded
-- A year ago, Maryland was able to garner ACC Player of the Week recognition twice. Just over a month into 2003, a Terp has received the honor now five times.
-- With Kelly Coppedge being named the conference's player of the week for her play at Ohio State (her second time this season), Maryland has now taken the honor in four of the five weeks it has played this year. The other honorees include seniors Sonia Judd and Alexis Venechanos.
Scoring Streaks
-- Senior attacker/midfielder Sonia Judd carries the Terps' longest scoring streak as she has now posted at least one point in each of the past 27 games.
-- The other notable streak in tact from last season belongs to Kelly Coppedge who has scored in each of the last 13 games.
Judd Hits Stride in Senior Year
-- Native Australian Sonia Judd has gotten off to her best start in any of her four years at Maryland this season, ranking second on the team in scoring with 36 points (21 goals, 15 assists). She stands just 14 points from the best season mark of her career (53) while the Terrapins have just hit the season's midpoint.
-- In addition to earning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week honors in week one, Judd surpassed the 100-point plateau for her career in Maryland's 10-8 win over UNC.
-- Judd entered this week fifth the ACC in points per game (3.6 avg.) and first in assists (1.5 avg.) while ranking seventh in goals per game with 2.1.
Coppedge A Tewaaraton Nominee
-- It was announced earlier this year that Kelly Coppedge has been nominated on the initial list of Tewaaraton Trophy nominees, an award which recognizes the top male and female in collegiate lacrosse.
-- Coppedge, a junior from Annapolis, is the leading returning scorer on this year's Terrapin team as well as its lone returning All-American. She currently leads the Terrapins in scoring with 40 points and was named ACC Player of the week last week for the second time this season.
-- Through 10 games, Coppedge is third in the ACC in scoring (4.0 ppg) and tied for second in goals (2.8 gpg) while ranking fourth in assists per game with 1.2.
Super Rook
-- Freshman Delia Cox has been one of the league's top performers in just her first season at the collegiate level. The native of Newbury, Mass., currently leads the ACC in ground balls with 3.3 per game while leading all Terp freshmen in scoring.
 Speedy freshman Delia Cox leads the ACC in ground balls.
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-- Through 10 games, Cox has scored 14 goals and passed out two assists for 16 points, fourth-most on the team overall.
Shooting Stars
-- As a team, the Terps have a solid .414 shooting percentage this season (compared to their opposition's .358), but what is even more notable is how much more the Terrapins are firing away than their opposition.
-- Maryland has outshot its opponent in all but one game this year and overall, it is taking way more shots than its opponents (285-176), an average of nearly 29 shots per game compared to the opposition's 18.
Tri-Captains
-- The captains of this year's Maryland team are seniors Sonia Judd, Julie Shank and Alexis Venechanos. The trio were chosen after a vote was conducted by their teammates as representatives of this year's squad.
