Five Terps Named Tewaaraton Nominees

University of Maryland Athletics

WASHINGTON, D.C. – An NCAA-best five members of the No. 1 Maryland women’s lacrosse team were named to the 25-player Tewaaraton Award nominee list, as announced by the foundation Friday.

Senior midfielder Taylor Cummings, senior defender Alice Mercer, junior midfielder Zoe Stukenberg, junior defender Nadine Hadnagy and sophomore attacker Megan Whittle all named to Tewaaraton nominees. The five Terps were all of Maryland’s representatives on the Tewaaraton Watch List, and led the team to a 17-0 record in the regular season.

Cummings, who won the 2014 and 2015 awards, leads the Terps in points (60), ground balls (51), draw controls (113) and caused turnovers (42). She is second on the team in goals (45) and assists (15). Cummings is an impact player across the field and ranks fifth nationally in draw controls per game (6.65), ninth in caused turnovers per game (2.47) and 14^th in ground balls per game (3.00). The Ellicott City, Md., native became the youngest two-time female recipient of the Tewaaraton last season.

Mercer leads the Terrapin defense that allows just 6.59 goals per game, the seventh-ranked scoring defense in the country. The All-American has 26 ground balls, 14 draw controls and 17 caused turnovers on the season.

Stukenberg has emerged as a lead for the Terps this season. She is third on the team with 35 goals, 13 assists and 48 points and has also pulled in 21 ground balls, 29 draw controls and 11 caused turnovers.

Hadnagy has helped guide Maryland’s young defense this season. She has 32 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers on the season and was added to the Tewaaraton Watch List last month.

For the second straight season, Whittle leads the Terps in goals, finding the back of the net 56 times during the regular season. In just 39 career games, Whittle has scored 123 goals, good for 3.15 goals per game.

Maryland has won five of the last six Tewaaraton Awards. Caitlyn Phipps captured the honor in 2010, while Katie Schwarzmann became the Terps’ first two-time winner in 2012 and 2013.

Five men’s and five women’s finalists will be selected from these groups of 25, announced on Thursday, May 12, and invited to the ceremony. The 16th annual Tewaaraton Award Ceremony will be held Thursday, June 2 in Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

– Maryland –