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University of Maryland Athletics

Game Notes -- Maryland and Temple Renew Storied Series

Game Notes -- Maryland and Temple Renew Storied Series

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May 6, 2003

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland women's lacrosse team begins its trek towards an attempt to return to the NCAA winners circle this Thursday as it will take on the Temple University Owls in an opening round NCAA tournament game at Ludwig Field. Opening draw for the game that can be heard on wmucsports.com is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

  • Maryland heads into the postseason with a 16-3 record (3-0 ACC) after falling twice in the last week of the regular season. Though they differed in terms of the team's performance, both losses came to the highest level of competition as one was to last year's national champion (Princeton) and the other came in the final seconds to this year's No. 1 seeded team (Loyola).
  • The Terrapins' final week did not affect either its seeding in the NCAA tournament or its standing in the final Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association (IWLCA) poll as the Terps enter the postseason No. 2 in both. The final 2003 poll shows Maryland trailing No. 1 Loyola by seven points (140-133) with the Greyhounds earning all seven first place votes.
  • Temple heads into postseason play at 13-5, yet unranked in the national polls. The Owls earned an automatic bid into this year's tournament by way of their perfect 7-0 league mark and Atlantic 10 Conference championship.
  • Tickets for Thursday's contest will be $5 for adults and $3 for students/children.

    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 year's tournament with a 43-14 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 21 of its last 22 NCAA tournament games and head into this year's competition with a 32-9 record in NCAA postseason play.

    Series Notes -- Maryland vs. Temple

  • Maryland owns a 14-10-1 (.580) record in its history of play versus Temple. The two teams were regular opponents from 1981 to 2000.
  • Temple owned the early part of the series between the two schools, winning nine of the first 12 meetings and tying another. The two schools played every year from 1981-2000 and early on, played in the same conference (EAIAW, 1981 and 1982).
  • The Terps have won 12 straight games in the series with the Owls' last win coming in 1989.
  • The last time the two schools met in the postseason was in the 1997 NCAA tournament, a 9-6 Maryland win in the national semifinals. Overall, the Terps and Owls are tied at 1-1 in NCAA play with Temple winning the 1984 finals, 6-4. The Owls also have one other postseason win over the Terrapins, a 3-2 win in the 1982 AIAW finals.

    TerpNotes

  • The Terrapins finished the 2003 regular season with a 16-3 record, a mark that reflects an improvement of six games over last season's final regular season mark of 10-9. The change comes despite the fact that the team has only three different starters from a year ago and is a bright spot for the future of the program considering only three starters (Judd, Shank and Venechanos) will be lost from this year's team.
  • In falling twice in the final two games of 2003, Maryland dropped back-to-back games for the first time all season and it did so to teams who finished the regular season ranked fifth and first, respectively.
  • Maryland's top two scorers -- junior Kelly Coppedge and senior Sonia Judd -- did not let up down the stretch. In fact, they only got stronger. In the final seven games of '03, the duo combined for 48 goals (an average of 6.9 per game) with Coppedge scoring 30 and Judd adding 18.
  • In holding Virginia Tech to one goal two weeks ago, the Terrapins accomplished a defensive feat that it had not in some time. The last time that a Maryland opponent was held to as few as one goal 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 has held a team to as few goals as it did Va Tech.
  • Head coach Cindy Timchal needs just five 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 295-65 while her record in 13 years at Maryland stands at an amazing 219-25.
  • 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 tournament time rolled around, 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 6.58 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 206 turnovers (an average of 10.8 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 (.580) and has been instrumental to the Terrapins' success on the defensive end. She is also second nationally in goals against average (6.67).

    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 219-25 (.898) 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 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 295-65 (.819).
  • 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	                    	16-3
	12+ Seasons @ Md.              	219-25 (.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 80-4 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 22 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 65 points (41 goals, 24 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 100-point plateau for her career in Maryland's 10-8 win over UNC 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 third in the ACC in assists (1.21), fifth in points per game (3.42 avg.) and sixth in goals (2.21 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 and sixth nationally in scoring with 4.37 points per game (83 total).
  • Now just 10 points from the 200 mark for her career, Coppedge is also first in the ACC in goals (3.3 gpg), fifth in assists (1.05 apg) and 10th in draw controls (1.53 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 tied for first in the ACC in total ground balls with 54 while leading all Terp freshmen in scoring.
  • Cox has scored 31 goals and passed out three assists for 34 points, fourth-most on the team overall. She is also second on the team and eighth in the league in draw controls with 31.

    Shooting Stars

  • As a team, the Terps have an outstanding .460 shooting percentage this season (compared to their opposition's .368), 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 (513-340), an average of 27.0 shots per game compared to the opposition's 17.9.

    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 Owls

  • The Temple lacrosse program is led by head coach Kim Ciarocca (Temple, '88), who is in her 11th year in Philadelphia. Ciarocca has posted a 122-68 record in her tenure while her career record (that includes stints at three other schools) stands at 147-82.
  • The Owls are 13-5 overall (7-0 A-10) and head into Thursday's matchup having won seven-in-a-row. In those seven wins, Temple has outscored its opposition by a minimum of five goals in all but one game.
  • Maryland and Temple have faced four common opponents this season -- Penn State, Virginia, ODU and Princeton. The Owls are 0-4 in their contests against those opponents while Maryland is 4-1 (the Terps played UVa twice).
  • Senior middie Deanna Radcliffe leads the team in scoring and is ranked in the top 10 nationally in points (72) and goals (60).
  • Senior Sheena Oommen has been solid in the net for Temple, posting a .596 save percentage while allowing 9.56 goals per outing.