Preview: No. 3 Maryland field hockey faces No. 20 Duke and No. 17 Boston College in B1G/ACC cup

No. 3 Maryland field hockey (3-0) heads back home to take on No. 20 Duke on Friday and No. 17 Boston College (2-0) on Sunday as it hosts the B1G/ACC cup for its first home games of the season.

The Terps started off 2023 on a high note, shutting out Stanford 4-0 in their first game of the season. Freshman Maci Bradford started her career on a high note, netting the first goal and assist of her collegiate career. Bradford has seven points on the season so far, second-most on the club.

Maryland continued to dominate, defeating Cal 4-1 and shutting out UC Davis 6-0 to cap off August.

Hope Rose made her presence known throughout the weekend, picking off right where she left off from a phenomenal sophomore campaign with a pair of goals against both Cal and UC Davis, bringing her tally to 11 points on the year. She led a Maryland offense that combined for 30 shots on goal throughout the first three games of the season.

The Terps’ defense has been critical to their success thus far. The unit led by co-captains Rayne Wright and Maura Verleg held all three California opponents to just one goal and 10 shots on goal combined.

“Building patience in the back field,” Wright said on Maryland’s keys early on. “A lot of us are veterans so just being able to take our experience and push it through to everybody else.”

Duke enters the contest after creeping by Indiana for a 3-2 victory in its season-opener.

The Blue Devils started off the outing strong, scoring less than four minutes into the game on a Kira Curland goal. Indiana struck back to even the game at one, but Duke jumped ahead after a Macy Szukics score to go ahead 2-1. The Blue Devils doubled their lead shortly after to make it 3-1, staving off a Hoosier comeback attempt.

Graduate student Hannah Miller and senior Charlie van Oirschot each picked up two assists in the victory.

Boston College enters the weekend after comfortable wins over Maine and Providence.

The Eagles’ offense came out firing against the Black Bears with three-straight goals, as senior Peyton Hale led the way with a goal and an assist. Hale leads the team with six points. Graduate student Margo Carlin and sophomore Mia Garber aren’t far behind with four.

Boston College put up another strong effort the next day against Providence with a shutout. The Friars failed to record a single shot on goal. 

Maryland holds a 36-13-3 series record against Duke and a 15-3 record against Boston College. The Terps defeated both schools last season.

“The biggest thing for us this weekend would probably be consistency,” assistant coach Scott Tupper said. “So if we can just spend as much time in each game playing at the standard we expect of ourselves then we’ll be in a really good spot.”

Friday’s game will start at 5 p.m. and Sunday’s game will start at 2:30 pm. Both contests will be held at the Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.