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April 8, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The University of Maryland women's lacrosse team will look to return to its winning ways this week after stumbling to its first loss of the season against James Madison on Saturday. The Terrapins will play host to The College of William & Mary on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. from Ludwig Field before taking on local rival Johns Hopkins University on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
-- The Terps - who head into this week 11-1 (3-0 ACC) - dropped just one spot in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association (IWLCA) poll, chiming in at No. 2. Maryland garnered 133 points, seven shy of Loyola, as the Greyhounds regained the top spot with all seven first-place votes.
-- William & Mary comes to College Park with a 1-10 record after going 6-11 a year ago. The Tribes' lone win of the season came against Davidson College on March 23rd, but they have had several other close calls including a narrow 15-13 loss to Georgetown in early March.
-- Johns Hopkins enters this week with a 6-2 record and will take on Penn State on Monday before heading to Ludwig Field on Saturday. The Blue Jays' lone losses this season have come to Top 20 competition in the form of Duke and Ohio State while they handed No. 19 Northwestern and No. 20 Vanderbilt losses last weekend in Nashville.
TerpNotes
-- Senior Sonia Judd took just one shot and had no assists at Georgetown last week, snapping the team's longest scoring streak. Prior to the game against the Hoyas, the Darlington, South Australia native had scored at least one point in 27 consecutive games. Judd did, however, return to the scoring column against JMU on Saturday with a pair of goals.
-- Goalkeeper Alexis Venechanos will not play against William & Mary and the timetable for her return from the injury to her left knee is questionable.
-- Head coach Cindy Timchal now needs just 11 wins to hit the 300 plateau for her career (includes games at Maryland and Northwestern). When she hits the mark, she will become the first coach in collegiate women's lacrosse to have done so. Her career record currently stands at 289-63 while her record in 13 years at Maryland stands at an amazing 213-23.
-- The Georgetown game marked just the second time this season that Maryland had allowed double digit goals to an opponent. The James Madison game marked just the third time this season that Maryland had taken less shots than its opposition.
-- Though it posted a season-low in shots against the Hoyas, the Terrapins' shot efficiency was its best all season. The Terps took just 19 shots, converting 13, against GU for a .684 shooting percentage.
-- After having a two-game scoring drought at the ACC/ALC Challenge two weeks ago, freshman Delia Cox broke out in a big way last week. She finished the week with six goals and showed the kind of burst in one-on-one situations that could see her getting the ball more and more as this season progresses. Notably against Georgetown, she finished with four goals (on four shots) with all four scores coming on unassisted run ins.
"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 12 games, the Terrapins are allowing 6.7 goals per game and has allowed just two opponents -- Penn State and Georgetown -- 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 140 turnovers through 12 games (an average of 11.7 caused turnovers per game), but the most marked improvement of 2003 has come from the Terrapins' goalies.
-- Prior to Alexis Venechanos being injured in the Georgetown game, the Terps seemed to have a shoe-in for a first team all-ACC goalie, something Maryland hadn't seen since Alex Kahoe graduated. Venechanos -- whose availability is in question after she injured her left knee -- has a career-high .582 save percentage, a mark that is over 100 percentage points better than her career average coming into the season. She has made 92 saves and allowed just 66 goals, a large part of why Maryland is outscoring its opponents 140-82 this season.
-- Fellow senior goalie Cara Gorman has had to come on of late and has been solid as well. Gorman saved the day with 10 saves against Georgetown and has a team-best .594 save percentage. As a team, the Terps are have a 6.72 goals against average and a .575 save percentage, both a tremendous improvement over last year's numbers (10.1 GAA, .475 save pct.).
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 213-23 (.902) 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 289-63 (.821).
-- 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 11-1
12+ Seasons @ Md. 213-23 (.902)
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 with the exception of now 2003. In 1997, 1999, 2001 and 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 75-2 mark in odd years since '97.
Terps Lauded
-- A year ago, Maryland was able to garner ACC Player of the Week recognition twice. Now nearly two months into 2003, a Terp has now received the honor five times.
-- With freshman Delia Cox being named the conference's player of the week for her play last week, Maryland has now taken the honor in five of the six weeks it has played this year. The other honorees include junior Kelly Coppedge (twice) and seniors Sonia Judd and Alexis Venechanos.
Scoring Streak
-- On the heels of Sonia Judd's scoring streak falling by the wayside against Georgetown, the most notable streak in tact from last season now belongs to Kelly Coppedge who has scored in each of the last 15 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 38 points (23 goals, 15 assists). She stands just 12 points from the best season mark of her career (53) while the Terrapins have just passed 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 sixth the ACC in points per game (3.2 avg.) and fourth in assists (1.25 avg.).
Coppedge Having A Big Year
-- It was announced earlier this year that Kelly Coppedge was nominated on the initial list of Tewaaraton Trophy nominees, an award which recognizes the top male and female in collegiate lacrosse. Judging by the way she has played 12 games in, her candidacy is more than viable.
-- 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 50 points and has been named ACC Player of the week twice this season.
-- Through 12 games, Coppedge is second in the ACC in scoring (4.2 ppg), is second in goals (2.8 gpg) while ranking second in assists per game with 1.7.
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., is currently fourth in the ACC in ground balls with 3.3 per game while leading all Terp freshmen in scoring.
-- Through 12 games, Cox -- this week's ACC Player of the Week -- has scored 20 goals and passed out two assists for 22 points, fourth-most on the team overall.
Shooting Stars
-- As a team, the Terps have a solid .432 shooting percentage this season (compared to their opposition's .364), 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 three games this year and overall, it is taking way more shots than its opponents (324-225), an average of nearly 27 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.
Scouting the Tribe
-- Head coach Tara Brown is in her fourth season at the helm of the William & Mary women's lacrosse program. She is a 1993 graduate of Virginia and in her time in Williamsburg, she has compiled an 22-18 record.
-- William & Mary has had a tough go of it so far in 2003 as the Tribe stand at 1-10 and 0-4 in conference. The Tribe has been led in scoring this year by Lauren Work (24 goals, three assists) and Morgan Watkins (16 goals, 10 assists).
-- In the net, Kitt Turnbaugh has started all but one game and is allowing 13.52 goals per outing while posting a .430 save percentage.
-- Series record: William & Mary has had its share of success against Maryland compared to most teams over the years. The Terps lead the all-time series 20-6 while William & Mary's last win in the series was a 7-6 win at Williamsburg in 1998.
Scouting the Blue Jays
-- The Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team is led by Janine Tucker, who is in her ninth season with the Blue Jays. Under her guidance, Hopkins has posted an impressive 117-43 record.
-- Johns Hopkins enters this weekend's contest ranked 18th and sporting a 6-3 record. The Blue Jays fell to Penn State, 11-4, on Monday at Homewood Field.
-- Through April 7th, the Blue Jays have been led in scoring by senior Meghan Barnett who has posted 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists). Freshman Sarah Walsh has been the team's most efficient scorer, notching 11 goals on just 17 shots (.647 shooting pct.).
-- Jen McDonald is the team's starting goalie and has posted solid numbers through eight games (.524 save pct.; 7.55 goals against average).
-- Series record: Though roughly just 45 minutes apart, the Maryland/Hopkins series has been a short one with the Terps leading the all-time ledger, 4-0. Last season's win was the narrowest margin of victory in the series (13-8).
