Today I have the chance to write about one of my favorite sports to follow at Maryland – field hockey. For those of you who aren’t familiar with me, I’ll ask you to indulge me as I take a few paragraphs to explain.
Getting to know me
Four or so years ago, seeking some information about Maryland athletics I stumbled across a website called Testudo Times. I read some of the comments and it seemed like a vibrant community so, to be able to converse with the other members, I enrolled for the site and adopted the screen name FHFAN. Though unexplained at the time, it was my shorthand for FieldHockeyFAN.
The site allows for members to write material for a section called “Fan Posts.” The subject of my third fan post in November of 2011 was field hockey’s trip to the Final Four. Seeing a dozen or so people comment inspired me to write even more and over time, I was regularly writing about hald a dozen (or more) Maryland sports.
In the spring and summer of 2013, shortly after the site’s originator Ben Broman handed the reins of the site to Pete Volk and Dave Tucker and they generously offered me the opportunity to write as a staff member with my own byline. In time, my “porfolio” grew to 11 sports. However, while my admiration and respect for the coaches and student athletes in all those sports grew, even my Twitter account @TCarton_is FHFAN tells the story of where my heart remains.
2014 – A brief recap
The preseason top ranked Terps started the 2014 season at the new U.S. National Team Training Center in Spooky Nook, Pennsylvania where they picked up a pair of wins over Massachusetts and Northeastern. Maryland opened their home season against North Carolina and fell 3-1 to the second ranked Tar Heels.
They picked up three straight wins but lost their Big Ten conference debut at Northwestern. Something clicked after that game and not only did the Terrapins launch themselves on a 13 game winning streak and claim the B1G title, but they began scoring goals at an astonishing pace. Over one seven game stretch, they averaged more than 6.5 goals per game.
The season came to a surprising and, for a program that has reached 20 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, disappointing end when the Terps fell first in the final of the B1G Tournament and then lost at home to Albany in the NCAA quarterfinals.
The 2015 schedule
For the third consecutive year, Maryland will open its season in Pennsylvania. The Terps will be one of four teams participating in the Conference Cup along with Temple, St. Joseph’s and Towson. Maryland will face off against Temple and St. Joe’s will play Towson in the first pair of games on Friday, August 28th in Philadelphia. The scene then shifts to College Park for a pair of Sunday games with the Terrapins taking on St. Joe’s and Towson tackling Temple to complete the opening weekend.
Weekend two brings and even more intriguing prospect as the Terps return to Spooky Nook for the inaugural B1G – ACC Challenge. Northwestern will join Maryland in facing ACC foes Boston College and Duke in another pair of Friday – Sunday games.
The weekend of September 11th sees Maryland set off on a stretch of seven consecutive home games beginning with the Albany Great Danes – the team that knocked the Terps out of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Then on Sunday Maryland will face off against a perennial NCAA participant the American University Eagles.
In 2014, the Northwestern Wildcats not only spoiled Maryland’s B1G debut, they also notched a convincing 3-1 win in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. On September 18th, Northwestern will again open the Terrapins’ conference schedule. However, this year, Maryland will be the host.
The Terps will step out of conference to host New Hampshire and Princeton before ending the extended home stand against conference foes Mich igan and Michigan State. The first three weeks of October will see the Terps on the road playing an alternating mix of conference and non-conference games.
The road trip starts on Friday the second with a game in Columbus against Ohio State after which the Terps will bus a 120 miles or so to the southwest ending in Oxford where they will take on Miami of Ohio. A trip to State College and a game with Penn State follows in another Friday conference contest.
Maryland then plays a rare midweek game when they travel to Norfolk to face traditional powerhouse Old Dominion. A trip to Piscataway and a game with Rutgers rounds out the road warrior segment of the schedule.
Indiana will be Maryland’s first October opponent in College Park before the final non-conference game of the regular season. Having missed the opportunity to play Maryland in August, the Towson Tigers will return to the Filed Hockey and Lacrosse Complex to close out the Terps’ home regular season.
In 2014, Maryland opened Big Ten play at Northwestern and ended the regular season by hosting Iowa. For 2015, the script has been reversed. Northwestern comes to College Park to open the conference schedule and Maryland will make its longest trip of the year to Iowa City to close the regular season against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Indiana will host this year’s B1G Tournament and Michigan is currently scheduled to host the Final Four in Ann Arbor.
Maryland’s schedule includes six of the 15 other NCAA Tournament teams and nine teams that finished the season with a top 20 ranking.
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