The official announcement came a few minutes before 10:00 pm Thursday night at the Museum of the American Indian when Under Armour’s vice president of sports marketing Ryan Kuehl announced Taylor Cummings as the first three time winner of the most prestigious award in NCAA lacrosse – The Tewaaraton Award. The award cemented Cumming’s place as the most decorated player in the history of NCAA women’s lacrosse.
With some current season honors not yet announced, here’s a partial list of Cummings’ accomplishments:
Freshman season (2013):
All-ACC
ACC Freshman of the Year
IWLCA First Team All-American
Sophomore season (2014):
First Team All-ACC
ACC Championship All-Tournament Team
NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player
IWLCA First Team All-American
IWLCA National Midfielder of the Year
Honda Award Winner
Tewaaraton Award Winner
Junior season (2015):
All-Big Ten
Big Ten Midfielder of the Year
NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player
IWLCA First Team All-American
IWLCA National Midfielder of the Year
Honda Award Winner
Tewaaraton Award Winner
Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year
Senior season (2016):
All-Big Ten
Big Ten Midfielder of the Year
Big Ten Tournament Most Valuable Player
IWLCA First Team All-American
Since its first presentation in 2001, the Tewaaraton Award has been presented to a Terrapin seven times. The incomparable Jen Adams won the first Tewaaraton in 2001. Caitlyn McFadden (Phipps) who is currently an assistant with coach Cathy Reese at Maryland became the Terps second winner in 2010. Since 2012, only Terps have won the honor. Katie Schwarzmann won back to back awards in 2012 and 2013 and now, Taylor Cummings has claimed it for three consecutive seasons.
The Maryland lacrosse record books don’t include defensive records such as caused turnovers and ground balls so noting that Cummings finished her career third in goals (229), ninth in assists (94), second in points (323) and first in draw controls (509) doesn’t capture the impact she had on both ends of the field. In 2016, for example, Cummings led the Terps in ground balls with 62 and caused turnovers with 52 both of which led the conference as well.
Cummings on field excellence led Maryland to a cumulative record of 86-4 and four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Championship game where the Terps won twice. I have had the joy of watching her play and the privilege of getting to know her – at least a bit.
Despite all her individual accomplishments Taylor Cummings has, like all the greatest athletes, always placed her team above all. In accepting the award, this most competitive of individuals held back tears as she reflected on her career at Maryland and thanked her coaches and teammates and said, “I know our season didn’t end the way we wanted but I would take another loss to spend 60 minutes on the field with you again.”
And that one sentence tells you what you need to know about Taylor Cummings.
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