Preview: No. 5 Maryland field hockey vs. Princeton

No. 5 Maryland field hockey (6-1) continues its homestretch by taking on the Princeton Tigers (1-3) Thursday.

The Terps hosted the Terrapin Invitational this past weekend and went undefeated against Miami (OH) and Yale. 

Maryland came out of the gates against Miami with an aggressive start that has characterized the team so far this season, as it already had a 2-0 lead on 13 shots by halftime.

Despite stormy weather preventing the Terps from finishing out the effort — the game was called with just over ten minutes remaining — they still managed to defeat the Redhawks, 3-1. 

Junior forward Hope Rose scored all three goals for Maryland in the first hat trick of her collegiate career. Rose leads the team in goals and assists with nine and 19, respectively.

“Hope Rose is a winner and she wants to be a winner,” coach Missy Meharg said. “Athletes like  that, you just know when the ball is in their hands and the team needs them that they’re going to deliver, and she’s been that way her entire athletic career.”

The Terps also beat Yale in a game that saw fifth-year forward Margot Lawn notch a goal and pick up two assists. Lawn is second on the team in points with nine.

Maryland has outscored its opponents 22-5 in its first seven games of the season while registering an average of 14.4 shots per game. 

Princeton has had a disastrous start to the season, most recently suffering a 2-1 overtime loss to No. 12 Rutgers. The Tigers have gone from the No. 15 team in the country at the start of the season to unranked.

Rutgers struck first to make it a 1-0 goal in the third quarter, but Tigers’ points leader and senior forward Liz Agatucci evened the game up at one just over three minutes later.

The game went through four overtimes before Rutgers redshirt sophomore Puck Winter gave the Scarlet Knights the 2-1 victory.

The Tigers have only scored five goals on the year while allowing opponents to take nearly two times the number of shots, 65 to 33.

Princeton will be the second Ivy League team that Maryland faces this year.

“I purposely schedule as tough a schedule as possible,” Meharg said. “[This is] so we are ready to play in the [Big Ten] and we’re ready to be in a position to win tournaments.”

Maryland will seek to build on its dominant 22-5 record against Princeton since 1999. The last game between the two schools was a 4-3 double overtime Tigers victory in 2022.

The game will start on Thursday at 4 p.m. in College Park.