No. 5 Maryland field hockey begins the NCAA Tournament against former ACC rival Duke

Photo courtesy of Rose Fernandes/Maryland Athletics

After earning an at-large bid on Sunday night, No. 5 Maryland field hockey (13-6, 6-2 Big Ten) will travel to North Carolina to face No. 9 Duke (12-6, 6-2 ACC) at Karen Shelton Stadium on Friday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Terps enter the tournament coming off a loss in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals to No. 6 Michigan — the eventual tournament winner — in a shootout. Maryland had not played in a shootout all season heading into the Big Ten Tournament, but in both games, the Terps found themselves in a shootout.

After winning in a shootout against No. 16 Iowa in the quarterfinals, the Terps played Michigan less than 24 hours later. Despite the quick turnaround, the Terps nearly pulled off a win in regulation. But with four seconds left, the Wolverines scored their third penalty corner goal of the game, evening the score at three.

“I was pretty numb,” head coach Missy Meharg said after the game about her feeling on the sideline after Michigan’s game-tying goal.

In Maryland’s first shootout against Iowa, the Terps had shootout film to study on goalkeeper Mia Magnotta. But against Michigan, Maryland had no film against goalkeeper Hala Silverstein. The difference was evident in the Terps’ shootout production, scoring three goals against Magnotta and none on Silverstein.

“That goalie was very, very fast. She came right off the line,” Meharg said after the game on Silverstein’s style. “We hadn’t faced a goalie like this, and they haven’t been in a shootout, so we hadn’t studied it.”

Despite the loss, Maryland stayed at the No. 5 spot in the NFHCA Week 10 poll and earned an NCAA Tournament at-large selection.

The Terps will play Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, an opponent they already faced this season. 

The two teams met on Sept. 8th in Illinois during the Big Ten/ACC Cup. In Maryland’s fourth game of the season, Duke defeated the Terps 1-0 on a third-quarter goal from midfielder Josephine Palde.

Despite playing the Blue Devils earlier in the season, Meharg said on Thursday that she hasn’t used much from Maryland’s previous match to prepare for Friday and instead is using film from the ACC Tournament.

If Maryland were to play a third consecutive game requiring a shootout to decide a victor, the Terps would have plenty of film of Duke’s goalkeeper Frederique Wollaert. The graduate student has played in three shootouts this season, including Duke’s loss in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament to No. 7 Boston College.

Maryland and Duke enter the NCAA Tournament with nearly identical seasons. Both teams boast similar overall records and lost in a shootout in the conference tournament’s semifinals.

The two teams even enter the tournament with an equally impressive strength of schedule as Maryland played 11 ranked opponents during the regular season, while Duke played 10.

On offense, the Blue Devils are led by Alaina McVeigh. The junior led the team in points and was a key part of Duke’s scoring, accounting for over 37% of her team’s total goals.

The Terps matched McVeigh against defender Rayne Wright in their prior matchup, but Meharg said the Blue Devils look different because they have more equal rotations.

“They’ve got four or five players, and they’re all cycling,” Meharg said. “We are not going to look to isolate Rayne on (McVeigh) [and we’re] very comfortable with anybody because sometimes when you look to isolate when they’re moving a lot, you can lose lanes and lose structure in changing off players.”

If Maryland cannot defeat the Blue Devils, it would be the first time Maryland has not advanced past the first round of the NCAA Tournament since 2015 — 2020 is not included as COVID-19 prevented an NCAA Tournament from happening. But if the Terp win, they would likely face No. 1 North Carolina in the following round.