Preview: No. 4 Maryland field hockey faces No. 17 Old Dominion in the NCAA tournament

No. 4 Maryland field hockey will look to make a statement in the first round of the NCAA tournament as it faces off against No. 17 Old Dominion on Friday.

The Terps found themselves not only selected as the fourth seed, but also chosen as the final host site for the first and second round in their bracket.

Maryland enters following an excellent 10-2 stretch since the beginning of October, with both losses coming at the hands of No. 2 Northwestern. The Terps ended their season with a loss to the Wildcats in the championship of the Big Ten tournament. Still, coach Missy Meharg has optimism entering the NCAA tournament.

“It’s a wonderful group,” Meharg said. “One might say we’ve gone a little bit in front of what the early September expectations were.”

Maryland’s first loss in that stretch to Northwestern was a 5-1 rout in its regular season finale as the Wildcats became the sole Big Ten regular season champion. The rematch was much closer, as it took two overtimes for Northwestern to score the game-winner in the conference championship.

“I applaud Northwestern,” Meharg said. “They brought together a lot of shots on goal, but [we were] certainly a lot better than last time we played them.”

All-Tournament goalkeeper Alyssa Klebasko stepped up to register nine saves for just the second time in her career. The freshman is the key to a Terps’ defense that’s one of the best in the country and the Big Ten — Klebasko has the second best goals against average in the conference (.893) and holds the second best save percentage in the Big Ten (.851).

“She’s a strong goalie and she loves it,” Meharg said.  

Old Dominion is no slouch when it comes to its defensive play. The Monarchs have allowed the second fewest goals on average in the Big East (1.09), slightly lower than Maryland’s 1.14 mark.

Klebasko will be opposite another stout goalkeeper in Old Dominion’s Suus Broers, the Big East co-Freshman of the Year. She was an integral part of the Monarchs’ 3-1 victory to claim the Big East championship.

All-Big East forward Marlon de Bruijne scored the go-ahead goal for Old Dominion, while fellow All-Big East honoree Frederique Zandbergen scored the tying goal and picked up assists on the next two scores.

Bruijne leads the team in goals (18) and points (42), while Zandbergen leads the team in assists (17) and is third in points (23). The two anchor an offense that’s 3.1 goals per game average was the best mark in the Big East.

The Terps’ offense is less explosive, only averaging 2.4 goals per game despite averaging almost the same amount of shots per game as the Monarchs. Maryland’s leading scorers are junior Hope Rose (13) and freshman Maci Bradford (10).

The Terps will need Rose to assert herself in the NCAA tournament — she managed to break a five game goal drought against Iowa in the first round of the Big ten tournament. Bradford also scored during the tournament against Rutgers, with her goal being the decider.

The start time for Friday’s game is set for 12 p.m. The winner will face the victor of Virginia-Saint Joseph’s on Sunday. Both games will take place in College Park.