Terps Take On No. 2 Georgetown In Women's Lax Showdown

University of Maryland Athletics

Local Rivals Set To Challenge Terps This Week

The seventh-ranked Maryland women's lacrosse team will take on two local rivals this week in Georgetown and Johns Hopkins. The Hoyas enter the game ranked second in the country, while the Blue Jays are ranked ninth in the latest IWLCA poll.

Maryland (9-2) has won seven in a row, including a 19-4 drubbing of Denver last week. Georgetown is 7-1 on the year with its only loss coming to No. 1 Princeton. Johns Hopkins will enter Saturday's contest with a perfect 10-0 record.

The game against Georgetown will be televised live by CSTV (channel 610 on DirecTV). LiveStats will be available on the internet at www.umterps.com. For fans in the area, they can listen live to WMUC on 88.1 FM. There will not be audio or LiveStats for the game against Johns Hopkins.

Last Week In Women's Lacrosse

Maryland won in its only contest of the week, pounding Denver 19-4.

Kelly Coppedge tied her career-high with nine points on six goals and three assists as the Terps earned their seventh consecutive victory. With her six goals, Coppedge moved past Kelly Amonte into second all-time at Maryland with 189 career goals.

Annie Collins poured in three goals within 1:41 to account for Maryland's first three scores and the Terps never looked back. Maryland scored 14 first half goals before Denver's Crystal Jack tallied a score with :12 remaining in the first half. Collins and Coppedge each scored four goals in the first frame and Acacia Walker added two for the Terps.

In the first half, Maryland held a whopping 32-4 advantage in shots and an 11-5 edge in draw controls. Maryland goalie Kirah Miles needed to make just one save in the first 30 minutes.

For the game, the Maryland defense held Denver to just 11 total shots and helped cause 18 of the Pioneers' 31 turnovers.

Brooke Richards set a career high with four points on two goals and two assists. Collins tied her career-high with five points (four goals, one assist) to go with four caused turnovers and five ground balls.

Picking Up The Pace

After a pedestrian 2-2 start, the Terrapins have picked things up to ignite a seven-game winning streak.

In the first four games, the Terps were held to under 10 goals twice (both losses) and averaged 11 goals during that stretch. In the last seven, Maryland has not been held under 11 goals and is averaging 17 a game.

Kelly Coppedge has picked up her game as of late for the Terps. During the four-game opening strech, she averaged just under four points per game and a shooting percentage of just .294. In the winning streak, Coppedge is averaging 6.28 points per game and has a shooting percentage of .479.

The Terp defense has also clamped down on opponents to help propel the team during this stretch. In the last seven games, opponents are averaging just six goals a game and are shooting just 33 percent. Maryland is also forcing roughly three more turnovers per game during its winning streak.

Maryland has started the season 2-2 seven times in its history, with the last time coming in 1998. In those seasons, Maryland has twice won the national championship (1986 and 1998) and finished runner-up once (1982).

Movin' On Up

Senior Kelly Coppedge, the reigning ACC Player of the Year and Tewaaraton Award candidate is moving her way up the career charts at Maryland for goals and points.

The Annapolis, Md., native is second all-time in goals with 189. She passed Kelly Amonte on April 2 with six goals against Denver. Current Terp assistant Jen Adams is first with 267.

She is now fifth all-time in career points with 261, and needs five more to move into fourth place.

During a three-game span from March 11-20, Coppedge scored an amazing 19 goals and six assists.

Coppedge was named ACC Player of the Week on March 22 for her six-goal, two assist performance against Old Dominion, in which she also recorded game-highs in caused turnovers (5) and ground balls (6).

She earned her second ACC honor a week later on March 29 after racking up nine goals and one assist in a week that saw the Terps collect three victories against ranked opponents.

Coppedge has scored nine points twice this season. She had a career-high seven goals to go with two assists against Brown. She also had nine points on six goals and three assists against Denver.

Just 11 goals shy of 200, she would be the only the second person in Maryland history to reach the milestone and the 22nd in the history of Division I women's lacrosse.

Going The Extra Miles

One of the question marks for Maryland heading into the 2004 season was the play of first-year goalie Kirah Miles.

Miles has answered those questions with stellar play in the cage so far. Miles has a solid GAA of 7.34 -- best in the ACC and 11th best in the nation -- and has 82 saves on the season.

Against Virginia on March 9, Miles stopped 17 shots, the most since another Villanova, Pa. native, Alex Kahoe, stopped 21 shots in the NCAA finals on May 17, 1998, also against Virginia.

Scouting The Hoyas

Georgetown, the nation's second ranked team, enters the game against Maryland with a 7-1 record. The Hoyas' lone loss came to the defending national champions, Princeton.

Sarah Oliphant leads the team in goals with 20 and has 31 points on the year. Coco Stanwick has dished out a team-high 16 assists to go along with seven goals.

Tewaaraton candidate Gloria Lozano has 11 scores and three assists on the year. Georgetown's other Tewaaraton candidate, Michi Elders, leads the team in caused turnovers with 32, but also has seven goals and an assist.

Sarah Robinson has started all eight games in the cage for Georgetown. She has a GAA of just 5.90 and has 75 saves on the year.

The Hoyas are coached by Kim Simmons, who has a record of 107-39 in her nine seasons at the school. Simmons graduated from Princeton in 1984.

Maryland leads the all-time series with the Hoyas 12-1. The two teams first met in 1977 but did not play again until the 1995 season. Georgetown's lone win came in its last visit to College Park in 2002, defeating the Terps 10-6.

Scouting The Blue Jays

Hopkins, ranked ninth, is a perfect 10-0 this season, including wins over nationally-ranked Ohio State and Vanderbilt. The Blue Jays defeated the Commodores in their last outing, 12-11.

Maryland leads the all-time series 5-0, including a 19-4 victory a season ago. The two teams first met in 1979 (with Maryland winning 17-1), and have met every season since 2000. Hopkins moved from Division III to Division I in 1999.

The Blue Jays have played eight of their 10 games at home.

Mary Key and Heidi Pearce are the leading scorers for JHU with 46 and 42 points, respectively. Key has a team-high 34 goals while Pearce leads the team in assists (14) and caused turnovers (17).

Lauren Riddick has taken most of the minutes in the cage for Hopkins, making 63 stops and allowing 76 goals. She has a GAA of 7.72.

JHU is coached by Janine Tucker, who is in her 11th season at the helm of the program. Tucker has a career record of 132-45. She is 0-4 against Maryland.