Wherever Terps go, champs’ pressure follows

Missy Meharg knows all too well the pressure of defending a national championship.

Having won it all six times in her 24-year tenure with the Terrapins field hockey team, Meharg's squads have been in the difficult position of trying to win two consecutive titles before, and she understands what type of challenge it poses.

"I know from having coached for a long time how difficult it is to win back-to-back championships," Meharg said. "As a coach, once you do that, you move on and see if there's a possibility of doing it again."

Meharg's teams have won consecutive titles once in her tenure, clinching both the 2005 and 2006 titles. But if the Terps are going to claim their second straight championship this season, they'll have to do it with the pressure that comes with being ranked as the top team in the nation.

"It's an honor to be No. 1, but it also comes with that target," senior midfielder Jemma Buckley said. "Every team is going to step it up when they play us."

The Terps felt the full weight of that pressure in their very first game since last November's championship victory. In their only preseason contest, the Terps fell to No. 8 Penn State, 3-2. After trailing 2-0 into the second half, the Terps tied the game with two unanswered goals, then allowed the Nittany Lions to score a late, game-winning goal.

Although the game ended in defeat, Meharg said it was good for the team to gain the experience of playing with a target on its back, especially in a preseason game of little consequence.

"I think that was a great scrimmage for us to have against a very good team." Meharg said. "People come after you whenever you're No. 1. ... They want to knock you off the top."

"Every team's out there to play their best against us. Being No. 1 in the country for us is hard to live up to sometimes," Buckley said. "But at the same time, we have to step up our game and make sure we come away with every single win that we can."

The team got back on track in its first weekend of regular-season action, defeating No. 19 Boston, 3-1, and Temple, 6-0. Even with a fast start, the pressure of repeating as national champions remains. With 11 games remaining against top-25 opponents, Meharg said the Terps will have to make adjustments and continue to improve if they want to do what they've done only once: repeat as champions.

"We need to utilize every game and every session of training to get to a new level," Meharg said. "So far I see the team being very positive with that."