Fear the Turtle: Terps win 3rd NCAA field hocky title in 4 years

November 28, 2008 – Maryland won its third NCAA field hockey national championship in four years, defeating ACC rival and second-ranked Wake Forest 4-2 on Sunday. Both teams had advanced to the title game in dramatic fashion – with OT wins in the semis.

Senior Susie Rowe capped a historic senior season with a goal and an assist. Playing with stitches across her nose thanks to a hard hit taken in the semifinal victory over Iowa, Rowe tied the Maryland record for goals scored in a season early in the second half when the third goal of the game was her 28th of the season.

Soph Katie O’Donnell added a goal and an assist for the top-seeded Terrapins (22-2), who rattled off four straight goals after falling behind early against the Demon Deacons (22-4).

Junior Nicole Muracco and senior Danielle Keeley also scored for Maryland, which swept all three of its meetings with Wake Forest this season. The victory was Maryland’s sixth national title.

Junior Hillary Moore led the Wake Forest attack, posting two goals for the team. Moore is the team’s leading scorer, netting seven goals through seven games. Goaltender Crystal Duffield stopped four shots, but Maryland dominated play after Moore gave Wake Forest the lead 17 minutes in.

Muracco tipped in a penalty corner to tie the game and Maryland took the lead shortly before the half as O’Donnell blasted one by Duffield. Rowe and Keeley put the game away with goals less then three minutes apart in the second half.

Maryland outshot Wake Forest 13-5 and had a 9-2 advantage in penalty corners.

To what do the Terps credit the championship?  Just a year ago, Maryland – then defending back-to-back NCAA championships – found itself on the outside looking in when the school served as host for the field hockey final four. According to a Baltimore Sun article:

It made for a “painful” time, Maryland coach Missy Meharg said. In addition, with some Terps away to represent national teams and some taking shortcuts in their lives, 2008 did not get off to a great start, and the coach said the team was not close to being national title contenders.

But Meharg credited Joel Fish, a sports psychologist, for helping the team. In addition, the players opened up to one another by spending a lot of time talking. The camaraderie helped change the direction of the team, which spent six of the nine weeks in the top spot of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll and finished winning its past 12 games.

In other NCAA field hockey news, Lindsay McNamara scored the winning goal in double-overtime yesterday at Collegeville, Pa., lifting Bowdoin to a 3-2 victory over Tufts for its second-consecutive NCAA Division 3 field hockey title.

Congrats to all!