Nearly 30 Terrapins field hockey team players, coaches and staff members crowded into the team room at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex last night, watching with nervous anticipation as the NCAA Tournament bracket was laid out on a whiteboard with a streaming video playing across it.
Everyone in attendance watched the selection show in silence as the first 10 teams were penciled into the bracket, waiting to hear the Terps' name called. When the 11th team scrolled onto the screen, the entire room erupted in celebration.
For the ninth straight season, the Terps are staying home for the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
"It's always the build-up, seeing where you're going to play, and finally knowing is just another piece of excitement," defender Ali McEvoy said. "It feels really good [to stay home], and it gives us the boost of energy we definitely needed."
"No matter what the rankings are," midfielder Megan Frazer said, "it's always good to stay home."
After the Terps' 2-1 ACC semifinal loss to Duke on Friday, there was some question as to whether they would, in fact, extend their eight-year streak of hosting NCAA Tournament games. Syracuse earned the seed in the Terps' quadrant of the bracket, but it will be College Park that hosts the first and second rounds of the tournament this weekend.
The Terps (15-4) play Iowa (15-4), a team they haven't faced since 2008, in the first round Saturday. The Terps are 8-3-1 all time against the Hawkeyes.
"Iowa is a great team," Meharg said. "They are very physical and very fast, and they play with a lot of emotion."
Securing home games in the tournament's first two rounds allows the Terps to settle in for this weekend, but they won't be able to celebrate for long. If the Terps are going to defend last season's national championship, they'll have to pass some tough tests along the way.
Should the Terps move past Iowa in the first round, they would face a likely matchup with the Big East champion Orange. And if they make it to the Final Four in Louisville, Ky., the Terps will likely face either Duke or No. 2 seed Old Dominion, two teams the Terps are a combined 1-3 against this season.
"I have mixed emotions," Meharg said of the Terps' bracket. "We've been here so many times in this position, and I've had cakewalks to the NCAA Final Four and lost in the semis or lost in the finals. I think the best way to go, in postseason, is to play the very best all the way through."
The Terps and ACC champion North Carolina, which earned the tournament's overall top seed, can meet only in the finals, as they did last season in a double-overtime, 3-2 Terps win.
Having won four championships in the past six seasons, the Terps are not used to entering the tournament unseeded. But they'll still get to play on their home field this weekend, and little else matters.
"I'm very excited to be home," Meharg said. "It's far more comfortable, we're accustomed to being home and I know the girls will be a lot more prepared."
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