Witmer leads field hockey to tournament sweep

Trailing by a goal midway through the first half against Villanova yesterday, forward Jill Witmer streaked down the field at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex and took a pass from defender Ali McEvoy with just one defender between her and the goalie.

After one quick juke, Witmer was past her defender, and seconds later the ball was in the back of the cage. The shot was one of nearly three dozen from the Terrapins field hockey team's afternoon, and Witmer's keyed an eventual offensive onslaught against Villanova in a 6-3 victory.

The win gave the No. 3 Terps a sweep of their Terrapin Invitational tournament competition this weekend. They also defeated Northwestern (4-2), 3-0, on Saturday.

"We grew a lot," coach Missy Meharg said. "They were very reactive and very individually proactive. … I was very pleased with that coachability for this team."

Five players scored goals for the Terps (5-1) this weekend, but it was Witmer's efforts that led the way. The sophomore forward scored one goal in Saturday's game before notching her first career hat trick against Villanova (2-3) on Sunday.

The team is still searching for a go-to player to replace the graduated Katie O'Donnell, and it may have found one in Witmer. Meharg was impressed with her play this weekend, but even with her individual success, Witmer said the most important thing for the team is to continue stepping up together.

"I thought today was one of Jill's best thinking games," Meharg said. "She played poised, she came back into the backfield, she made great combinations, her defense was good, she played very smart hockey and was a good leader for us."

"It doesn't matter how many goals you score," Witmer said, "as long as we win."

Even with a nine-goal outburst this weekend, however, the Terps showed some issues on the offensive end of the field. The team was awarded 29 penalty-corner opportunities in two games this weekend, but converted on only five of those chances.

"With the amount of penalty corners we got, we'd like to execute more," Meharg said. "We'd like to get more goals out of those corners, or take field-goal shots. It's always something to work on."

As the defending national champions and a current top-five team nationally, the Terps are considered one of the sport's top teams. But as talented as they are, Meharg said, she's still waiting for the Terps to turn from a good team into a great one. Continued strong offensive efforts like the one Witmer and her teammates put together this weekend could be what pushes the Terps to the next level.

"Great teams compete against themselves every single training session and every single game, and we're not great yet," Meharg said. "We have to learn how to be great by setting that marker every second that we play."

vitale@umdbk.com