No. 10 Maryland women’s lacrosse vs. Johns Hopkins preview

Maryland women’s lacrosse coach Cathy Reese was a senior in high school when former Johns Hopkins coach Janine Tucker took the helm prior to the 1994 season.

Since then, Reese has created a reputation at Maryland that precedes her. As a player, she’s a four-time national champion, and as a coach, she’s led the Terps to five more.

Tucker did not reach those same heights. Johns Hopkins experienced just two losing seasons during her tenure, but made the NCAA Division I tournament quarterfinals just once.

Reese had her number in every single matchup the two had as coaches. The Terps were 14-0 against Tucker over her tenure.

Tucker retired last year after 29 seasons. The No. 10 Terps’ (10-3, 2-0 Big Ten) matchup with the Blue Jays (5-6, 2-1 Big Ten) will be Reese’s first against them without Tucker on the sideline.

They’re now led by first-year coach Tim McCormack, who helped turn around a reeling Arizona State program over three years. After going a combined 12-24 in their two years before McCormack, the Sun Devils had three-straight winning seasons under McCormack, including a Pac 12 Tournament championship appearance in 2022.

But the success hasn’t been the same for him early in his tenure at Johns Hopkins. It enters Wednesday’s battle against the Terps under .500 on the year, and 0-5 against ranked opponents. 

The Blue Jays are a middle-of-the-pack group on both sides of the ball, ranking  53rd and 61st in scoring offense and defense, respectively, out of 120 Division I programs.

Johns Hopkins holds strong depth offensively, as six Blue Jays have at least 10 goals this season, but none have more than 17. They move the ball around as much as any team in the country. Their 6.64 assists a game is second in the Big Ten, only trailing a dominant Northwestern offense.

Reese said she is pleased with the progress Maryland’s defense continues to make. But it has struggled with communication and endurance at times; things necessary to stop a fast-paced, movement-heavy offense like Johns Hopkins’.

“We started off the season and we just had a lot of new players,” Reese said. “We just needed some time to really kind of get our feet under us… and they’ve shown what they’re capable of. And that puts Emily [Sterling] in a position to do her thing.”

Fortunately for the Terps, the Blue Jays struggle to finish on offense, as just 41.7 percent of their shots find the back of the net.

That should set up Sterling for another strong performance. The reigning IWLCA Defensive Player of the Week started the year slow, but has double-digit saves or a save percentage of at least .500 in all of her last five games.

“Emily’s amazing, I mean c’mon,” graduate student defender Abby Bosco said after Maryland’s win over No. 16 Michigan last Sunday. “She had those stops that really allowed us to put our foot down and run away with it at the end”

Johns Hopkins turns the ball over more than any other team in the Big Ten. And the Terps — particularly senior attacker Libby May — excel in transition. She finished some excellent fast-break goals against Michigan — resulting in Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors — and could be set up to do so again on Wednesday.

The Maryland offense has been an incredibly balanced offense over its seven-game winning streak — the game-to-game parity of scorers make the Terps a tough team to gameplan for.

“Something that we’re always trying to make sure is that we’re all dangerous at every single moment on the attack,” May said. “It’s great that we have different people step up every game.”

If they limit turnovers, it’s easy to envision the Terps’ winning streak continuing into next week. If not, the Blue Jays are talented enough to put them on upset watch.

“We could spend a lot of time talking about our opponents or we could spend a lot of time talking about us and what do we need…to be ready to compete on Wednesday and be focused on ourselves,” Reese said.