An old challenge with new stakes for field hockey

Against all but one opponent this season, the Terrapins field hockey team showed why it ranks as one of the best defensive units in the country. In all but two games this season, the Terps' backline gave them more than enough to win.

Unfortunately for the team, the main exception to its defensive rule is also what stands between the Terps and a spot in Sunday's national title game. No. 2 seed Old Dominion twice gashed the Terps this season, scoring a combined nine goals in lopsided wins that marked the Terps' worst performances of the season.

Still, the defending-champion Terps have one final chance for revenge against their historic rival when they face the Lady Monarchs in the Final Four today in Louisville, Ky.

"It just makes us want to go out there and kill them even more," forward Jill Witmer said. "I just want to beat them so bad and I think we can."

If the Terps (17-4) plan to finally get the better of the Lady Monarchs (22-2), however, they will first have to stop star forward Emma Batten. The 23-year-old graduate student, who ranks second in the nation with 27 goals, befuddled Terps defenders regularly in the teams' first two meetings, and her combined six goals in those games amount to nearly 20 percent of the 34 total the Terps have allowed all season.

"This Emma Batten is for real," coach Missy Meharg said. "But the other people are wonderful support players and they're good and they're solid, so it's not like you can put two people on [Batten] and not worry about the others. They're very strong."

Batten's efforts in the teams' second meeting this season, a 5-2 Monarchs victory in College Park on Oct. 14, led Meharg to challenge her team's defense to take their failures more personally. After allowing three goals to Batten in that game — her second hat trick against the Terps this season — the Terps' backline has heeded its coach's words.

"We've definitely become more aggressive in our practices and it's definitely come through to our games," defender Hayley Turner said. "Our defense has really come on, and we just have to play our best. Quick communication and quick organization is what it's going to take [to stop Batten]."

While this game is clearly a personal one for the Terps, Meharg said it was important for the team to keep its emotions at bay. Rather than retaliate after two losses to the Lady Monarchs, Meharg said, the Terps should instead look to redeem themselves.

"Is there a difference between revenge and avenge?" Meharg asked. "I kind of want to avenge the style in which we played. What I'd like to do is come in with this conviction in individual defense and one-on-one attack, want to come in with a more suitable game plan from the coaching staff to accommodate what we've clearly seen now as someone who is exceedingly dangerous. Instead of revenge, I want to take our defensive savvy, our individual grit and take it to a new level."

If the Terps move past Old Dominion in the semifinals today, they will face either No. 1 seed North Carolina or No. 4 seed Connecticut in the tournament finals. Overall, the Lady Monarchs, Terps and Tar Heels rank as the top three teams in the sport's 30-year history with nine, seven and six national championships, respectively.

"It's a really high-level Final Four," Meharg said. "The highest level that I've seen,"

But with a date with Old Dominion today, the Terps can't afford to be thinking about a second straight crown — and a fifth in the past seven years — just yet.

"We've got to play our best game yet," Meharg said. "There's no question about that."

vitale@umdbk.com