After injury, Frazer picks up where she left off for field hockey

Megan Frazer is a player accustomed to always being on the field. The Terrapins field hockey co-captain was a steadying presence in her first two years in College Park, starting all but one game and finishing fourth on the team in goals each season.

But Frazer struggled to play like her old self to start her junior season. Dealing with a nagging hamstring injury from early in the year, the midfielder started just three of the Terps' first six contests and remained scoreless until the team's seventh game of the season.

With four goals in the team's past four games, however, the injury concerns seem to be in Frazer's past. When the No. 3 Terps host Virginia tonight at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex, Frazer will be on the field at full strength.

"What I've been so impressed with is some athletes, when they're very, very competitive players, might push themselves to try and get back quicker than they should," coach Missy Meharg said. "I just thought she was stellar. She played bits and pieces here and there and came out, she did everything in her treatment, she knew where she wanted to be at the end of the month and that's where she is."

A talented goal scorer throughout her Terps career, Frazer struggled to get her offense on track early this season, not netting a goal in any of the team's first six contests. But her offensive output has exploded in recent weeks, punching in all of her goals in the Terps' past four games and accounting for four of the team's 19 scores in that stretch.

"The team has really come together. I can't score goals by myself," Frazer said. "It really shows how the whole team is starting to step up and put even midfielders in position to score goals from the back."

Frazer's offensive success could continue tonight against a Virginia (5-6, 0-1 ACC) team that has the worst scoring defense in the ACC. The Cavaliers have allowed 3.4 goals per game this season, so given the Terps' (9-1, 2-0) recent offensive surge — 25 goals in their past five games — Frazer and the team could have plenty of opportunities to score.

But even with a subpar Cavaliers defense, tonight's game will likely be closer than the team's records might indicate. Though the Terps have won 14 straight in the series, four of the past five games between the two squads have been decided in overtime, meaning Frazer and the Terps could be in store for a tight contest tonight.

"I don't care what Virginia's defense is before this game. You look historically and Virginia's defenses are a whole different level when they play Maryland," Meharg said. "It will be a battle. It always is."

vitale@umdbk.com