May 2, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The second-ranked Maryland women's lacrosse team closes out the 2003 regular season with Saturday's big matchup against top-ranked Loyola at 1:00 p.m.. The Terps (16-2, 3-0 ACC) and Greyhounds (14-1) each, surprisingly, dropped a game earlier this week but stand to gain improved status in Sunday's NCAA tournament pairings with a win today.
Maryland lost just its second game of the 2003 season on Wednesday, falling 13-6 to defending national champion Princeton. The loss was very uncharacteristic of the Terps this season as they were both held to their lowest scoring total of the season (6) while allowing more goals than they have in any game this season. In fact, the 13 goals by Princeton were three more than Maryland had previously given up in any game this season.
TERPNOTES
It is debatable what was more shocking about Wednesday's loss to Princeton -- that Maryland was held to six goals or that it gave up 13. Heading into the game, the Terrapins had been averaging 16.4 goals in its previous five games while posting an NCAA-best average of 6.06 goals allowed per game. In addition, the Terps had the nation's largest average margin of victory at +7 per game.
ACC Player of the Year and National Player of the Year candidate Kelly Coppedge continued her strong work in the last six games against the Tigers. With a hat trick, Coppedge has now scored 28 goals in the last six or an average of 4.7 goals per game.
Maryland has been on the losing end of team draw control battles just three times this year with Princeton being the most recent. In those three games, the Terps are 1-2.
The Maryland/Loyola matchup features -- oddly enough -- three of the nation's top goalies. Maryland's Alexis Venechanos and Loyola's Kim Lawton and Cindy Nicolaus are at the top of the national rankings in both save percentage and goals against average. Few teams in women's lacrosse have one strong goalie, but Loyola has two which is why the duo have split time almost down the middle this season with both combining to produce a 6.22 goals against average this season.
Saturday is the last regular season home game for five seniors -- Cara Gorman (Goalie, Amsterdam, N.Y.); Sonia Judd (Attack/Midfield, Darlington, South Australia); Carrie Reinhardt (Attack, Monkton, Md.); Julie Shank (Defense, Arnold, Md.); and Alexis Venechanos (Goalie, Yorktown, N.Y.).
Scouting The Greyhounds
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 194-70 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.
Like the Terps, Loyola lost a shocker earlier in the week as it fell to Virginia, 10-9, for its first loss of the season on Tuesday. In the loss, the Greyhounds gave up three goals in the game's final two minutes.
On the field, the Greyhounds are having no problems getting out of the gate as they have outscored opponents 105-41 in the first half this season.
Senior Suzanne Eyler is the team's leading scorer with 50 points while junior Kim Lawton and freshman Cindy Nicolaus have split time in goal almost right down the middle (450 minutes to 456) while posting a strong .624 combined save percentage and allowing 6.22 goals per game.
Series record: The Terps and Greyhounds split last year with Loyola winning in the regular season and Maryland in the NCAAs. The Terrapins, however, hold a major advantage in the all-time series, 21-2.
