This season, the road is like a second home for the Terrapin field hockey team.
The Terps are 4-0 this season away from the friendly confines of the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex. Three of those wins came against then-top 10 teams, including a 4-2 win against No. 3 Wake Forest on Saturday.
Despite the success, the No. 1 Terps (9-1, 2-0 ACC) have been anything but cavalier in preparing for tomorrow's matchup at No. 10 Virginia.
"I'm really proud of the way they've been training this week," coach Missy Meharg said. "[The players'] level of passion and willingness to work hard starting Monday was incredible. Having competed down at Wake on Saturday and then coming back up to play Richmond on Sunday, I was pleased with the effort."
The Terps better be ready. The Cavaliers may not be able to match the talent of Wake Forest, but they did just drub Richmond 7-1, three days after the Terps claimed a similar 7-0 win over the Spiders.
Freshman midfielder Paige Selenski has emerged to lead Virginia (10-2, 1-0) in goals (11) and points (28).
The Terps will need a strong defensive effort to stay with the Virginia attack. To be successful, the Terps will need the defense to control the play and ignite the offense.
"The reality of any high-performance team game is that how your skills are in the backfield will really dictate your numbers up field," Meharg said. "We're just getting to a place where we're feeling really good about our combinations [in the backfield]."
Another goal for the Terps will be continuing to earn and capitalize on penalty corners. Against Richmond, the Terps scored three goals off their set plays after penalty corners.
The addition of transfer back Emma Thomas, who was cleared to play last weekend by the NCAA, has the team excited about their corner unit.
Susie Rowe played with Thomas previously in England. Rowe said with so many scoring options, the Terps' corners will be tougher to defend.
"We're quite excited because we're both on the corner unit. That's been one of our dreams, so to speak," Rowe said. "We both have the capability to drag-flick the ball on corners, so that's going to be a pretty potent weapon of ours."
Home or away, the Terps have prided themselves on their tough schedule and ability to rise to the occasion.
A win Saturday would move the Terps to 7-1 against ranked opponents, and 5-0 on the road this season.
It would also make the bus ride home a little bit sweeter.
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