News & notes
Reese set to break mentor’s record with Terps women
Coach on verge of passing Timchal; Hood starts strong
Cathy Reese does not remember her first victory as the Maryland women’s lacrosse coach. (Incidentally, it was a 23-8 throttling of UMBC on Feb. 19, 2007.) But that’s understandable considering Reese has amassed 259 wins against just 21 losses in 13 seasons in College Park.
If the No. 2 Terps (11-0, 2-0 Big Ten) defeat Rutgers (5-6, 0-2) on Saturday, Reese will tie Cindy Timchal as the program’s winningest coach and could overtake her mentor with a victory over No. 7 Virginia (9-3) on Wednesday. As usual, Reese deflected praise regarding her ability to recruit and develop players for a school that has captured four NCAA championships during her tenure.
“The success of teams isn’t ever about one person,” she said Thursday morning. “For me, I’ve worked with awesome assistant coaches and support staff. … There are just people that make my job easier and better, and I think that’s a big part of our success here at Maryland. We have such great people here that work with us in all areas in addition to the players themselves. It’s a group effort to be successful day in and day out, and we’ve got a good group.”
Reese, who played for Timchal for four years and then was hired by her as an assistant shortly after graduation in 1998, credited Timchal with encouraging her to replace her after the 2006 season. Timchal, who went 260-46 in 16 years and is currently 181-49 at Navy, applauded Reese via an academy spokesman.
“Having a player like Cathy was a dream come true,” said Timchal, who is the NCAA’s all-time leader in career wins (517). “Now for her leading the program and watching Maryland play in the years since I have left, she has done an amazing job. There is no better time for her to break the record that I set than right now with her remarkable team.”
When Reese earned win No. 250 in a 17-12 victory at Florida on Feb. 14, the team surprised her with 250 balloons in the locker room and a video of current and former players congratulating her on her achievement.
Asked if there are plans to celebrate tying and/or breaking Timchal’s record, Reese replied, “Oh, I hope not. … I don’t think there’s anything too fancy coming on here. We’re midway through our season going into a game against a conference opponent on Saturday and then another top-ranked opponent next week. We’re in a good spot as a team right now. I’m just loving this group of girls and their passion and their excitement. Hopefully, we just keep continuing to do our thing.”
The men’s team opened the season with seven consecutive wins for the first time. The Blazers dropped their Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth opener against Stevenson, 21-5, on Wednesday, but coach Brad Barber said the strong start has boosted the players’ morale.
“Sure, winning seven games in a row, that gives you a little bit of an edge, a little bit of excitement so that you’re going out there and competing and flying around,” he said. “So winning certainly helps that, but I think our mentality of focusing on what we can control and taking it play by play, that’s kind of has been the mindset of how we’ve approached and attacked each practice and each game.”
With Wednesday’s 15-10 win at Alvernia, the women’s team already has won nine of 10 games, eclipsing the single-season record for victories of eight established by the 2009 squad. Coach
“It kind of puts us on the map, which is nice,” she said of the Blazers’ success. “… We’re going to see some great competition in the next couple weeks, but I think it’s really helped the girls’ confidence going into conference play. I try to schedule teams that would be very challenging. I think the progress of beating teams that we used to lose to has been rewarding.”
But Terps coach John Tillman
“There are a lot of scenarios that we’ll go through with our team,” he said. “I think the most important one is to go, ‘Listen, let’s plan on him playing and being at full strength.’ That is the best thing we can do so that we don’t get caught unexpectedly or are mentally surprised in any way.”
Nolan said he has been aided by the return of starting attackmen Ryan Frawley (team-best 17 goals) and Trevor Patschorke (12) from injuries and the emergence of junior attackman Brett McIntyre (15) and senior midfielder Josh Jordan (13).
“The way the offense is run this year, we don’t just have one guy,” he said. “We have a lot of guys that can score and can move the ball. So whatever is coming to me at that moment, then that’s what it is. If I have to make a pass, that’s what it has to be. We have some guys that came back that are shooters. So that’s been helping me. All I’ve got to do is throw it in, and they score.”
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
