Preview: No. 5 Maryland women’s lacrosse gets set for ranked battle against No. 12 James Madison

Maryland women’s lacrosse coach Cathy Reese and James Madison coach Shelley Klaes lead two of the best programs in the nation. But they share a lot more in common than that.

Their paths first crossed as Maryland high school stars. Reese was a two-time All-Metro attacker at Mount Hebron in Ellicott City; Klaes was a 1993 All-Baltimore County attacker at Loch Raven in Towson. They met in the state semifinals Reese’s freshman year, and in the finals her sophomore and junior years — Klaes was one grade ahead of her.

Loch Raven won the semifinal game in 1991 before Mount Hebron got revenge in both finals matchups.

In college, Reese played for Maryland and Klaes played for James Madison. They met three times from 1995-97, with the Terps winning all three. At the time, Maryland was beginning what would become one of the greatest runs ever in any collegiate sport. It earned seven-straight national championships from 1995-2001, with an absurd 140-5 record in that stretch. 

Reese was an assistant coach for the last three seasons of the run, and stayed until 2004 before being named head coach at Denver. Across the DMV, Klaes was an assistant coach for the Dukes in 1998 before taking a job at Hofstra and eventually being named head coach in 2002.

Both coaches returned to coach their alma maters in 2007, now touting illustrious careers. Reese has continued the Terps’ tradition of success, winning five national titles in her tenure, while Klaes got the Dukes to the mountaintop — the NCAA championship — for the first time in school history in 2018. 

They’re both the all-time winningest coaches at their respective programs, and both recently hit major career landmarks. Reese won her 300th game at Maryland last season, and Klaes won her 200th game at James Madison on Feb. 18, beating UConn 11-7.

“To coach at your alma mater, a place that you love and are passionate about, you’re connected to the program,” Reese said. “That’s how she is at James Madison… She’s done a great job, and once again, it’s another strong team this year.”

The No. 5 Terps (3-1) will face off against the No. 12 Dukes (3-1) in Harrisonburg Wednesday evening. They’re Maryland’s second of three straight top-15 opponents — it beat No. 7 Florida over the weekend and plays No. 9 Denver on Saturday.

Since returning to their alma maters, Reese has continued her dominance over Klaes —  she took the first 12 matchups between the schools. That streak broke last season, when the Dukes beat the Terps 13-8 in College Park.

“Obviously we have some unfinished business,” senior attacker Libby May said. “We let them get to us a little bit in the middle of the game… but this year we’re coming strong with a mindset that we just need to play our game.”

Maryland opened the year ranked No. 2 before an ugly loss to then-No. 4 Syracuse dropped it to sixth. The Terps have rebounded well, winning their last two games over Drexel and Florida.

Part of this rebound can be attributed to the Terps finding their identity on offense. In their first two games, the offensive shot distribution was relatively spread out. In their last two, May and senior attacker Hannah Leubecker combined for 36 of the team’s 56 shots.

May scored six goals in each of those games, earning her IWLCA Co-Offensive National Player of the Week and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors. But she said the increased offensive output is due to improved team chemistry and confidence, and that she and Leubecker just happened to be the ones taking the shots.

“That’s been a big theme for us this spring is trusting our game plan…and knowing that if we execute those little things that we’ll get the looks that we want,” May said.

The Dukes are trying to establish themselves in their first year as members of the American Athletic Conference. They previously competed in the Colonial Athletic Association before a move to the Sun Belt Conference — which does not sponsor women’s lacrosse — forced them to join the AAC as an affiliate.

They’re currently the second-highest ranked team in the conference, behind Florida.

But whether in the CAA or AAC, James Madison comes to play. It deploys one of the top attackers in the country, redshirt junior Isabella Peterson. She’s coming off an impressive eight-goal performance en route to a 19-8 win over High Point.

The Dukes are likely without redshirt senior Kacey Knobloch, who’s yet to play in a game this season due to injury, per a team spokesperson. She was named team captain after finishing second on the team in goals, points and assists in 2022.

Maryland will look to improve to 4-1 and end its road trip on a high note before its Saturday matchup with Denver in College Park.

“To have the chance to compete against an offense like [James Madison] and challenge ourselves defensively as we’re continuing to grow,” Reese said. “We just got to keep getting better every day.”

The game against the Dukes is set to start at 5 pm.