Good News on the Eve of the ACC Tourney

The Terps had four players named to the All-ACC team- super soph Katie O'Donnell, senior Susie Rowe, and juniors Alicia Grater and Alexis Pappas.

O'Donnell was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year and Rowe was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Phase 1, Complete

The Terps avenged last season's disaster in Chapel Hill with a 7-0 drubbing of No.5 North Carolina.

The win secure's the regular season ACC Championship for the Terps and a bye in the first round of the ACC tournament.

Early on both teams were feeling each other out as two boxers would in the early rounds of a heavy weight fight. Then it was just the Terps jabbing away at the Tar Heels

The Terps used a balanced offense to throttle North Carolina. Nicole Muracco started the scoring with an unassisted goal when she drove into the half circle and found the back of the net.

Alexis Pappas was the next Terp to find the back of the net when she recovered a rebound and put it past the goalie. Susie Rowe would add in a third goal before the end of the first half.

In last season's loss to North Carolina, the Terps couldnt muster a single shot, but Saturday, the Terps got 22 shots off and allowed just 5 shots by the hapless Tar Heels.

In the second half the Terps offensive onslaught continued. Muracco added in her second goal of the day with an assist by Rowe. Just moments later Rowe scored a goal of her own, off a penalty corner, to have two on the day. Katie O'Donnell and Ellen Ott also got into the scoring action.

With the ACC tournament looming, the Terps will have to face one last trap before post season play this Thursday against VCU. As always, the game will be broadcast here on WMUCSPORTS.com

Terps Show Grit, Beat Monarchs

On paper the Terps looked like they would blow away the Monarchs, after all they had done so earlier this season with an 8-1 romp, this time however, it took a gritty performance to get the win.

Old Dominion jumped out to a 1-0 lead and dominated the first half. But in the second half the Terps showed why they are among the nation’s elite.

After having little penetration into the Monarch’s half circle in the first half, the sophomore Katie O’Donnell began to penetrate. And when she did, despite a swarming defense it was the effort of senior Emma Thomas that tied up the game. Thomas got into the half circle, and when the defense was collapsing she made an effort play to dive and get the ball around the charging goalie to tie the game at 1-1.

Later in the second half it was O’Donnell once against penetrating the defense and this time finding Nicole Muracco for the game winning goal with around six minutes to go.

It was a gritty win that showed heart and effort, and as the Terps prepares for the ACC tournament wins like this on the road will have this team ready.

Terps Shut out Princeton, Muracco Scores Four

The Terps were leaded 2-0 at halftime, but it was hardly a dominating performance. The team used its immense talent to overcome the pesky Princeton Tigers to get the lead, not execution.
Enter Katie O’Donnell and Nicole Muracco.

The Terps appeared out of sync and seemed to struggle to reintegrate O’Donnell, Brianna Davies and Alexis Pappas who struck gold at the Pan Am Games. And it showed when the Terps couldn’t capitalize on seven first half penalty corners.

But in the second half, O’Donnell and Muracco found their old chemistry and put together a dazzling performance.

O’Donnell got the Terps offense back into a speedy transition game and took the ball deep into the half circle, despite having three Tigers on her. Then passed the ball off to Muracco who took care of business and knocked in three of her four goals in the second half, and two off O’Donnell assists.

And while the Terps offense was revving up, it was the Terps defense who withstood the Tigers early onslaught. Goalkeeper Alicia “the Grater,” who finished with nine saves, kept the Terps in it despite Princeton controlling the tempo and the ball for most of the first half.

Princeton, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The Princeton road trip. This sent shivers down my spine because I had a bad experience traveling up to Princeton last year for women’s lacrosse. But this season Princeton redeemed itself.

Maddie and I were on the call and headed up, jamming to All-American Girl, Miley Cyrus and of course Maddie’s Penn State football mix. Along the way I had WAWA’s for the first time and now I understand why everyone was so bitter that they closed the location near to campus.
Any way, we arrived to Princeton early and walked around and discovered an amazing candy store, and of course we couldn’t resist.

Check the next post for the game recap, I just wanted to finish off the logistics of this interesting trip.

After the Terps magnificent win, we were headed home when Maddie had the brilliant idea to stop in Philly on the way home and grab some cheesesteaks from Pats… great idea except it is south Philly at 11:30pm. But I did get to meet up with Chrissy, one of my friends who goes to Temple, and I got a real Philly cheesesteak for the first time, so it was all worth it.
All in all a great trip, capped off by the Terps shut out of Princeton, 5-0

Maryland-Duke Preview

Maryland-Duke. Who doesn't love it? One of the most intense rivalries in basketball (both men's and women's), soccer, lacrosse, etc. hits the field hockey gridiron tomorrow afternoon as the top ranked Terps welcome in those hated Blue Devils, who are ranked 9th in the country. The Terps are 10-1 overall, 3-0 in ACC play. They're coming off a 4-3 overtime triumph at # 10 Virginia last Saturday (this blogger was supposed to do play-by-play of that game and even previewed it...then a virus intervened and that didn't happen) in which Emma Thomas scored her first career goal to propel the Terps to victory.

Duke, meanwhile, is 8-3, 1-2 in ACC play. They're coming off a 2-0 victory over Boston University on Sunday and that followed up a 5-0 whitewashing of Boston College for their only win in conference play. The Blue Devils haven't been on the road since September 13, when then-top ranked Wake Forest took them down 4-1 in Winston Salem. Their other losses are a 2-1 defeat at home to 5th ranked North Carolina on September 27 and also a 1-0 loss in their first game of the season against then-# 17 Louisville in Kentucky.

The Terps will be shorthanded. No Katie O'Donnell, Alexis Pappas, or Brianna Davies, as those three are down in Mexico City as a part of the Junior Pan Am Games. O'Donnell in particular is a killer loss as she may be the best field hockey player in the country. Players like Nicole Muracco, Susie Rowe, and Ellen Ott will have to step up in their absence. The Blue Devils do not appear to be a powerful team, however. Despite being ranked # 9, they don't have a single player with more than 13 points on the season. They make up for it by playing a very defensive style that has shut out four opponents this season (including their last two) and allowed them to knock off then-# 5 Iowa in Iowa City 2-1, by far their most impressive win of the season.

The Terrapin offense may bog down without O'Donnell. No offense to Muracco or anyone else, but you don't just lose a Katie O'Donnell and chug along like nothing's wrong. Not to mention the loss of Pappas as well, which will also hurt. Davies is a tough loss on the defensive end but Alicia Grater should be able to survive in net without her, especially against the not-that-potent Blue Devil offense. Except a low-scoring game, with the Terps prevailing late on a Muracco goal.

I'll be back after the game tomorrow with a blog recapping it and giving you some insight from the participants.

PREDICTION: Maryland 2, Duke 1.

Big Challenge This Weekend with Three Terps to be MIA

As reported by the Diamondback's Mike Katz, the Terps will be playing without three of their stars this weekend against No. 9 Duke.

Katie O'Donnell, Brianna Davies and Alexis Pappas are in Mexico City, competing for the U.S. Junior National Team in the 2008 Junior Pan-American tournament.