AU field hockey’s season ended in defeat Saturday, falling to top seeded University of Maryland 6-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Maryland wasted no time by scoring in the first eight minutes of the game off of a penalty corner. Amellet Rischen put the ball in play, passing to Megan Frazer who buried it for her 13th goal of the season. The Terrapins never looked back going on to score two more goals in the first half and three unanswered in the second half.
Despite the 3-0 deficit, the Eagles continued to fight. Their persistence paid off with three minutes to go in the half. Senior Anne-Meike De Wiljes snuck a ball past the UMD goalkeeper to give the Eagles some momentum going into the half. It was her eighth on the season. Juniors Kristin Gebhart and Anne van Erp had the assists.
While AU was able get some offense to going at the end of the half, Maryland looked unaffected and scored their fourth goal nine minutes into the half. They would go on to have eight more shots and two more penalty corners, capitalizing on AU miscues.
AU Head Coach Steve Jennings wasted no time, making personnel changes early and often. He made 21 changes total in the game, compared to Maryland’s 16. Despite the mixing and matching of players, the team only managed seven total shots and five on goal.
Saturday’s contest was one of AU’s most physical games of the year. There were six total Player Cards in the match. Two AU players had cards, while four different Maryland players were disciplined. Despite UMD’s big lead, they seemed be playing in a more physical style and earned one green and two yellow cards in the last 15 minutes.
The loss drops AU to 12-9 on the season and 3-3 away from Jacobs Field. This is the third time AU has played the Terps in three years and has gone 0-3. Saturday’s game was the only one that AU was never in position to win, losing the other two by scores of 2-1 and 3-0.
It was the team’s seventh-straight Patriot League Championship and NCAA Tournament bid. AU has never had a double-digit loss season since 2001 and has never lost more than one conference game since 2002.
AU will lose six members of this squad to graduation. They include two-time Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year De Wiljes, three-time Second Team All-Patriot Leaguer Savannah Graybill and three-time Second Team All-Patriot League goaltender Alyssa Poorman.
The win keeps UMD a perfect 21-0 on the season. They advanced to the second round where they played No. 10 seeded Drexel University Sunday. Drexel was the only upset of the first round, defeating No. 5 seeded University of Connecticut 3-2.
You can reach this staff writer at atomlinson@theeagleonline.com.
