Preview: No. 5 Maryland women’s lacrosse gets set for top-ten matchup against No. 9 Denver

College Park sits over 1,500 miles from the Pioneers’ home. But when they travel to No. 5 Maryland women’s lacrosse (3-2) on Sunday, it’ll be a homecoming of sorts for them.

Lacrosse is considered by some to be the fastest-growing major sport in the country, but it remains largely an east coast phenomenon. Of the 25 currently-ranked schools, 22 lie east of the Mississippi River, and of the remaining three, two are national powerhouses in a lot of sports: USC and Stanford.

The one outlier is No. 9 Denver (5-0), primarily known as a hockey school. And of its 36 players, 13 hail from Maryland. Its coach, Liza Kelly, also grew up in Baltimore.

For comparison, USC and Stanford roster a combined eight Marylanders.

Maryland coach Cathy Reese deserves a lot of credit for making Denver the program it is today. After a five-year stint as an assistant coach for the Terps, she led the Pioneers from 2004-06. There, she turned a program that went 7-12 in her first year into a 15-5 force in her last. She returned to Maryland in 2007.

In her absence, Denver hired Kelly, who now enters her 17th season at the helm. She holds the most wins by a coach in school history and has guided Denver to six NCAA tournaments, including a quarterfinal appearance in 2019 in which it lost to Reese and the eventual national-champion Terps. 

This year, the Pioneers are off to a red-hot start, but for a team ranked in the top ten, their record should be taken with a grain of salt. Just one of their wins came against a currently-ranked opponent — No. 21 Michigan on Wednesday — and three of five were decided by two or fewer goals.

The Pioneer offense has struggled this season, scoring just 8.6 goals per game — tied for 100th in NCAA. But Kelly’s teams have historically been known for their defense, and this year is no different. Anchored by the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year and Preseason first-team All American, senior Sam Thacker, they’ve held opponents to 5.4 goals per game, the fifth-fewest in the nation.

Sophomore goalkeeper Emelia Bohl is building off a strong freshman campaign. The Bethesda native has been one of the best goalkeepers in the nation, as her .542 save percentage is good for 11th in the country.

The Pioneers will face a Maryland offense trying to establish some consistency. It’s coming off an ugly 8-7 loss to No. 12 James Madison, in which it was held to just four goals in the first three quarters and shot a dismal 24 percent. 

“Our offense is better than that, and we need to be able to demonstrate that,” Reese said.

She added the Terps tried to slow the game’s pace early, but that resulted in them not attacking the cage as strongly as they should have. 

“We needed to speed that up, especially when we dug ourselves into a hole,” Reese said.

In the second half, the Terps’ offensive off-ball movement came alive. While that didn’t turn into extended success until the fourth quarter, it enabled them to create opportunities. 

And in that fourth quarter, down 8-4 with just over seven minutes left, the Terps scored three goals in 2:51 to make it a one-score game with 4:22 left. They got just one more shot off, which Dukes’ goalkeeper Kat Buchanan blocked.

This comes a week after the Terps scored seven goals in the first quarter, six in the fourth quarter and one in the second and third quarters combined against No. 7 Florida. They won, but the streaky nature of their offense needs to change if they want to make a run in the NCAA tournament.

“That shows us what this group can be capable of,” Reese said after the Florida win. “We just need to continue to work to playing a consistent 60 minutes out there.”

Maryland will see if it can get closer to that goal against a daunting Pioneer defense Sunday at 12 p.m. at SECU Stadium.