Terps win second consecutive ACC title

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — ACC Coach of the Year Missy Meharg called a timeout. The top-seeded Terrapin field hockey team trailed the Cavaliers 2-0 with 15:20 remaining in the ACC Championship game, the first time the team had been behind by more than a goal all season.

Nothing had gone right for the Terps so far.

The scoreboard had malfunctioned, leaving the players unable to keep track of the clock. On a save by goalie Alicia Grater, the ball got stuck in her shin pad, giving No. 3-seed Virginia a fluky penalty corner opportunity. The Cavaliers’ two scores came on penalty corner deflections.

The Terps needed a spark. So Meharg told her players she would soon pull Grater in favor of another offensive player to give the team a better chance to score.

“I think every one of us was like, ‘Oh no, it’s not going to get to that point where we need to pull the keeper,’” forward Katie O’Donnell said. “So we definitely stepped on our horse.”

The ACC Tournament MVP led the charge.

O’Donnell dribbled the ball along the end line to the right of the cage, weaving past Virginia defenders until she found an open but difficult angle shot. She swept the ball past Cavalier goalie Kim Kastuk to give the Terps their first score of the game.

That goal shifted the momentum, which had firmly belonged to host team Virginia, to the Terps. The re-energized team struck again 97 seconds later to tie the game, then the Terps ended it less than two minutes into overtime to complete the comeback win.

“We’re the biggest group of fighters you might ever see,” O’Donnell said. “We’re not ranked No. 1 because we won last year. We’re No. 1 because we’ll put everything we have on the field, and we’re going to do everything we absolutely have to do to come out with a win.”

The No. 1 Terps (20-0, 5-0 ACC) took their eighth ACC title and extended their perfect season on Sunday while dashing the No. 3 Cavaliers’ hopes for their first-ever conference championship.

The victory gave the defending champions their first back-to-back ACC titles since they won four straight from 1998-2001. The Terps defeated Wake Forest last year 4-3 in the final match, but this game had a decidedly different feel.

In this tournament, the Terps came out flat on the heels of their rocky second-half performance in Friday’s semifinal against Wake Forest, in which they held a three-goal lead but had to outlast a late push by the Demon Deacons for the 3-2 win.

They struggled particularly on penalty corners. Though the Terps often take advantage of set plays, each of their five first-half corners resulted in a wide shot or a miscue.

Virginia, on the other hand, started on fire coming off a semifinal win against No. 2 North Carolina. While penalty corners are not usually their strong suit and the Terp defense excels at corner defense, the Cavaliers (18-3, 3-2) scored both their goals on corner tip-ins for a 2-0 halftime lead.

“That game is over, and we lost that game,” Meharg said she told the team at halftime. “We lost it 2-0. But let’s get on the board and win the second one.”

The Terps typically play their best in the second half. In the regular season meeting against the Cavaliers, they went into the intermission trailing 1-0 but scored three unanswered second-half goals to win.

Though they started the second half slow, stonewalled by a Virginia defense that seemed determined to hold onto the lead, O’Donnell’s goal set the Terp comeback in motion.

Forward Nicole Muracco scored on the next possession to tie the game, and the Terps dominated possession from that point, outshooting the Cavaliers 13-2 after halftime.
The comeback could have come to naught.

Virginia got a penalty corner opportunity as time expired in regulation, giving them the chance to win the game. But the Terp backfield held strong and denied the Cavaliers.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt the energy just from five girls coming out of the cage,” back Emma Thomas said. “Nothing was going in the net that time.”

In the extra minutes, the Terps did not waste any time. Just less than two minutes into overtime, the Terps finally scored on a penalty corner with their own tip-in, as midfielder Megan Frazer deflected Thomas’ shot into the cage for the championship.

“I think we all felt the momentum,” Thomas said. “I think we were working harder than they were. I think we wanted it more than they did when it really came down to it. We dug out that win.”

kyanchulis@umdbk.com