May 13, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
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After a one-year hiatus, the University of Maryland women's lacrosse team has returned to its traditional postseason stomping grounds, the NCAA Championships. The Terrapins have made their return behind a pair of relatively easy wins in defeating Temple University (26-6) and Dartmouth College (13-5) in the tournament's opening rounds.
The Terps -- this year's No. 2 seed -- will now attempt to take it one step further in their efforts to get back to the top of the women's collegiate lacrosse world when they take on this year's No. 3 seed and Atlantic Coast Conference rival, Virginia. The meeting will be the third between the two schools this year but the first outside of Charlottesville, Va., as Maryland defeated the Cavaliers on their home field in both the regular season and in the ACC tournament finals on the 'Hoos' home turf.
Maryland heads into the Final Four with an 18-3 record (3-0 ACC), a seven-game improvement over its record of a year ago.
Like their seeding in this year's tournament, the Terrapins finished the regular season ranked second in the final Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association (IWLCA) poll. The final 2003 poll shows Maryland trailing No. 1 Loyola by seven points (140-133) with the Greyhounds earning all seven first place votes.
Virginia earned its berth in this year's NCAA championship behind wins over American University (19-3, 1st round) and an impressive 16-9 win over Georgetown in the quarterfinals in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers are now 16-4 overall with three of their four losses coming to ACC teams (two to Maryland and one to Duke) and the other coming in overtime to Syracuse in their season opener.
Terps In the Tourney
Winners of 10 national titles and nine NCAA titles, Maryland is the most successful program in the history of the NCAA tournament. Last year's exit in the quarterfinals marked the end of a seven-year run that saw the Terrapins post the third-longest national championship streak in the history of women's NCAA athletics.
The Terps enter this weekend's play with a 45-14 record all-time in postseason tournaments (USWLA, AIAW and NCAA) with just two losses in the last nine years (last year and in the 1994 NCAA finals).
Maryland has won 23 of its last 24 NCAA tournament games and heads into the Final Four with a 34-9 record in NCAA postseason play.
Since 1983 (the year women's lacrosse became an NCAA sport), the Terrapins are 24-6 in NCAA championship round games (i.e. the Final Four). Maryland's last Final Four loss came in 1994 when it lost in the finals to Princeton, 10-7.
Series Notes -- Maryland vs. Virginia
Maryland owns a 29-8 (.784) record in its history of play versus Virginia. The two teams have met twice this year -- once in the regular season and once in the ACC Tournament finals -- with the Terps winning both times.
The Terrapins have had tremendous success of late against Virginia, one of the nation's premier programs. Maryland has won all but one of the last 17 meetings between the two schools. UVa was able to split with the Terps a year ago, beating Maryland in College Park (17-16) before falling in the 2002 ACC tournament, 15-12. Virginia's last win in the series prior to last year was a 11-9 win in Charlottesville in 1993.
In NCAA postseason play, Maryland holds a 5-2 advantage over the Cavaliers and has won four straight. The last three meetings between the two schools in the postseason have come in the NCAA finals (1996, 1998 and 1999) with the Terrapins coming away with the national crown all three times.
The last time Maryland and Virginia faced off in the NCAA semifinals was 1992. The Terps came away winners in that contest, 8-7 in overtime.
Turf Monsters
Due to poor weather conditions early in the season, the Terrapins became more accustomed to playing on artificial turf in 2003 than they would in a normal season, playing its first four home games on the now defunct University Rec Turf Field. In retrospect, it seems to be a surface the team prefers.
Maryland is 7-0 this season on games played on artificial turf. Its average offensive output in games played on turf is 12.1 goals per game while its opponents average a paltry 5.7 goals against them.
Twice in the Terrapins history have they played at Syracuse's Carrier Dome with both games coming against the hometown Orangewomen. Maryland beat the Orange 15-11 in 2002 (its last trip to the dome) and 24-11 in 2000.
TerpNotes
Junior Kelly Coppedge continued her 2003 offensive onslaught in the Terps' quarterfinal win over Dartmouth and it paid off with a career milestone for the Annapolis native. Coppedge scored five points against the Big Green, putting her at 200 for her career and moving her into 10th on the Maryland all-time points list, despite her having a full year left at the collegiate level.
Coppedge also moved into 10th on the all-time goal list with her 145th.
Maryland's top two scorers -- Coppedge and senior Sonia Judd -- have not let up down the stretch. In fact, they've only gotten stronger. In the last 10 games, the duo combined for 68 goals (an average of 6.8 per game) with Coppedge scoring 42 and Judd adding 29.
Maryland's first-round win over Temple was a record-setting day, both from a team and an individual perspective. On the team side, the Terrapins broke the NCAA tournament record for goals (26) recently set by Princeton which posted 25 in opening round action a year ago against LeMoyne on its way to the national title.
The Terps also set an NCAA tournament record for shots with 52, surpassing the mark of 48 by Delaware in 1984 while the 20-goal margin of victory was also the second-most ever in an NCAA game (Princeton beat LeMoyne by 22 last year).
Among the single-game season highs for Maryland as a team against the Owls were its team totals in shots (52), ground balls (40) and draw controls (24, tied the season high).
After two impressive NCAA wins, the Terrapins leave themselves heading into national semifinal action with a feat few teams can match. The Terps can now claim that they have doubled up their opponents this season as they have outscored their opposition through 21 games by the score of 275-136.
In holding Virginia Tech to one goal on April 26th, the Terrapins accomplished a defensive feat that it had not in some time. The last time that a Maryland opponent was held to a goal or less was March 28, 1998, as Old Dominion was beaten by the same score the Hokies were, 18-1. That is a span of 117 games since Maryland had held a team to as few goals as it did Va Tech.
Head coach Cindy Timchal now needs just three 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 297-65 while her record in 13 years at Maryland stands at an amazing 221-25.
With the regular-season ending loss to Loyola, Timchal's assault on 300 will have to wait until 2004. If the best case scenario were to take place for the Terps (i.e. they are able to win out in the NCAAs) she would remain one win shy of the mark.
Maryland finished the regular season with some outstanding team numbers in the NCAA rankings. The following are a few of those rankings:
Scoring Offense 9th 12.4 avg.
Scoring Defense 3rd 6.58 avg.
Win Percentage 2nd .842
Scoring Margin 2nd 5.84 margin
Draw Controls 11th 12.4 avg.
ACC-olades
The Terps came home from the ACC tournament in April toting some hardware, garnering plenty of team and individual attention.
Aside from the obvious -- the tournament championship -- several other awards were donned on Maryland players and coaches. First, at the league's annual banquet, junior Kelly Coppedge was named the conference's Player of the Year while head coach Cindy Timchal was named Coach of the Year. Coppedge became the first non-senior since Jen Adams to earn the award while Timchal was named Coach of the Year for the fifth time in her seven years in the conference.
Coppedge was joined by three other Terps as members of the All-ACC team, with all three being first-time selections. Seniors Sonia Judd, Julie Shank and Alexis Venechanos were all honored for their play this season.
When the tournament came to a close, Coppedge, Judd, Shank and sophomore Annie Collins were selected to the all-tournament team while Venechanos became the first goalie in league history to be named the tournament's most valuable player.
"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.
With the regular season now complete, the Terrapins are allowing 6.43 goals per game (third-best in the NCAA) and has allowed just three of 19 opponents -- Penn State, Georgetown and Princeton -- double-digit goals in a game.
The Terp defense -- spearheaded by starting defenders Molly Lambert, Julie Shank, Greta Sommers and Laura Warren -- has been clearly improved, having forced 221 turnovers (an average of 10.5 caused turnovers per game), but the most marked improvement of 2003 has come in the net for the Terps.
Senior Alexis Venechanos leads the ACC and is sixth in the NCAA in save percentage (.582) and has been instrumental to the Terrapins' success on the defensive end. She is also second nationally in goals against average (6.49).
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 221-25 (.898) under her guidance, have earned 13 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 2003 ACC Coach of the Year, her fourth 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 more than four games only once (2002), and her list of accomplishments includes 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 297-65 (.814).
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 18-3
12+ Seasons @ Md. 221-25 (.898)
Terps Take ACC By Storm
Two wins over Virginia this season signified Maryland's return to the top of the ACC.
The Terrapins' impressive 11-8 win over the Cavaliers in March ended their ACC regular season and did so without a blemish. After finishing last in the league with an 0-3 record a year ago, Maryland claimed the ACC regular season title, the top seed in the ACC tournament and a perfect conference record for the fourth time in its history.
With its win over Virginia in the ACC tourney on April 20, Maryland completed 2003 ACC play by wrapping up its fifth ACC tournament championship. In doing so, the Terps won all five games against ACC opposition this season.
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 2003 combined, the Terrapins own a 12-0 league mark, while in '98, 2000 and 2002, the team stood at 3-6. In addition, Maryland's record in those odd seasons has been astounding as it owns a 82-4 mark in odd years since '97.
Terps Lauded
A year ago, Maryland was able to garner ACC Player of the Week recognition twice in the entire season. With the 2003 regular season now complete, the honor has taken on a Maryland flare as six of the eight times it was awarded, it went to a Terp.
With junior Kelly Coppedge being named the conference's player of the week for her play prior to the ACC tourney, Maryland took the honor for the sixth time with Coppedge taking it three times on her own. The other honorees during the season included freshman Delia Cox and seniors Sonia Judd and Alexis Venechanos.
Scoring Streak
On the heels of Sonia Judd's scoring streak falling by the wayside against Georgetown earlier this year, the most notable streak in tact from last season now belongs to Kelly Coppedge who has scored in each of the last 24 games.
Judd Closing It Out In Style
Native Australian Sonia Judd has played the best that she has in any of her four years at Maryland this season, ranking second on the team in scoring with 72 points (47 goals, 25 assists). Her point total is a new career high, surpassing her previous best of 53.
In addition to earning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week honors in week one, Judd surpassed the 150-point plateau for her career in Maryland's 11-6 win over Virginia and was named one of Maryland's four All-ACC selections at the ACC lacrosse banquet. She was also named to the ACC all-tournament team for her play in Charlottesville.
Judd entered this week fourth in the ACC in assists (1.19), fifth in points per game (3.43 avg.) and fifth in goals (2.24 avg.).
Coppedge ACC Player of the 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 throughout this season and her earning player of the year in one of the nation's elite women's lacrosse conferences, 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. This year's ACC Player of the Year, she is currently second in the league in scoring with 4.43 points per game (93 total).
Coppedge is also first in the ACC in goals (3.38 gpg), fifth in assists (1.05 apg) and seventh in draw controls (1.62 pg).
Coppedge's seven goals against Johns Hopkins in April currently ranks as tied for the second-best goal output in any single game in the NCAA this year (tying among others, teammate Sonia Judd).
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 total ground balls with 65 while leading all Terp freshmen in scoring.
Cox has scored 36 goals and passed out five assists for 41 points, fourth-most on the team overall. She is also second on the team and ninth in the league in draw controls with 33.
In NCAA play thus far, Cox has been outstanding, posting five goals and two assists in Maryland's first two wins.
Shooting Stars
As a team, the Terps have an outstanding .462 shooting percentage this season (compared to their opposition's .365), 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 four games this year and overall, it is taking way more shots than its opponents (595-373), an average of 28.3 shots per game compared to the opposition's 17.8.
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 NCAA Field
Virginia has been one of the top offensive teams in the country this season and enters Friday's play with a 16-4 overall record.
Julie Myers (Virginia, '90) has been at the helm of the UVa program for seven-plus years now and has compiled a 115-39 record in her tenure.
Virginia has the only offense in the ACC that has posted more points than Maryland as it averages 13.65 goals per game (compared to the Terps' 13.1). UVa's problems have come on the defensive end as they allow an average of 8.3 goals per game compared to Maryland's 6.5.
The Cavaliers have been led this season by one of the nation's top offensive players, senior Lauren Aumiller. Aumiller is the ACC's leading scorer with 95 points (63 goals, 32 assists) and had the most impressive outing of any player in this year's tourney as she netted an NCAA record eight goals against Georgetown in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Amy Appelt is a force inside the eight meter and has posted 79 points this season.
Andrea Pfeiffer has gotten most of the minutes in goal this year for Virginia and has posted a .460 save percentage to go along with a 8.05 goals against average.
Loyola enters the NCAA championships as the tourney's No. 1 seed and top ranked team. Sporting a 17-1 record, the Greyhounds' only loss of the season came in the final week of the regular season when they fell to Virginia.
Loyola's inspiration this year - and one of the most amazing stories in the sport of women's lacrosse - has been its head coach, Diane Geppi-Aikens. Geppi-Aikens, who has a 197-70 record in her 14 years, has undergone three full craniotomy brain surgeries in the last eight years as she has battled to remove a recurring brain tumor. In that span, she has not missed a single game and was justifiably named this year's NCAA Inspiration Award winner.
The Greyhounds have been led in scoring by senior Suzanne Eyler who has posted 56 goals and seven assists.
In goal, Loyola has had a pair of netminders share the work with nearly equal success. Senior Kim Lawton (5.44 GAA, .614 save pct., 540 min.) starts games while freshman Cindy Nicolaus (7.13 GAA, .629 save pct., 546.55 min.) has been strong in closing them out.
Princeton is the defending national champion and the team that handed Maryland its worst defeat of the 2003 season.
The Tiger women's lacrosse program is spearheaded Chris Sailer who is in her 16th year. A 1981 grad of Harvard, Sailer has posted a 199-68 mark in her tenure.
The Tigers have been led in scoring this season by junior Theresa Sherry. The Baltimore native has posted 42 goals on just 80 shots while also adding six assists.
Sophomore Sarah Kolodner has gotten the bulk of the minutes in goal and has been solid, allowing an average of just 6.4 goals per game while posting a .535 save percentage.
