WASHINGTON — There’s good news for both the Maryland men’s and women’s lacrosse teams this Memorial Day weekend: Last year’s nemesis, North Carolina, won’t be standing between either one and their respective national championships.
Last May, the Terps were upset on consecutive days by their Tar Heels counterparts in the title game after each entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed. Each was a bitter pill to swallow: The women were unbeaten and attempting to win their third title in a row, while the men fell in overtime while pursuing their first championship since 1975. Both teams are back with an eye on the prize that eluded them last May.
For women’s coach Cathy Reese, plans are not to be made the final weekend of May. This year’s trip to the national semifinals is the program’s ninth straight Final Four appearance.
“We graduated two national players of the year last year, and there were a lot of questions about what this group was going to be capable of,” Reese told the media before the team traveled to Boston. “These guys went through and have had an undefeated regular season, which I think is a huge credit to them.”
Leading the way is the tandem of junior attacker Megan Whittle (66 goals) and senior midfielder Zoe Stukenberg (second on the team with 50 goals and third with 26 assists).
“They’re great leaders out there,” Reese said. “Zoe just works her tail off in everything she does. We really feed off of her energy. Megan, on offense, has just got such great speed and can create offensive opportunities for us out of any situation.”
The 21-0 Terrapins rank first in the nation with 16.86 goals per game and are 10th in Division I in shooting percentage (47 percent). Their closest game during the regular season? A 16-14 victory over national semifinal opponent Penn State, where Nittany Lion sophomore (and Davidsonville, Maryland, product) Madison Carter scored six goals.
“We knew who their offense threats were, and we still didn’t stop them,” Stukenberg said. “When we single out a player in practice before the game, we don’t like for them to have five or six goals.”
Averaging 3.45 goals per game, Carter is the highest-scoring player remaining in the tournament. Both teams are prepared for the nail-biter that often takes place in the national semifinals; Penn State’s coming off a 14-12 win over Princeton in the quarterfinals, while Maryland rallied to beat Stony Brook 13-12.
The other semifinal features a pair of unseeded squads: Navy battling Boston College in the late game Friday night. The Mids will have their hands full against BC scoring threats Sam Apuzzo (74 goals) and Kate Weeks (72 goals). The Eagles have had issues containing teams all season, ranking 65th (out of 111 Division I schools) in scoring defense by allowing 12.32 goals per game.
