University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 1 Vs. No. 2 Saturday At Maryland
February 18, 2015 | Women's Lacrosse
Second-ranked North Carolina (3-0) will visit top-ranked Maryland (1-0) at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in one of the most anticipated matchups of the 2015 season. These two teams have played some classic games in recent seasons, in the regular season, the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Saturday's game will be the first between the longtime Atlantic Coast Conference rivals since Maryland joined the Big Ten prior to the 2014-15 academic year.
The Big Ten Network will provide online coverage via BTN+ (available on BTN2Go with the purchase of a BTN Plus subscription). Visit BTN.com for more information.
Saturday's game will be a role reversal of sorts from the last meeting between these schools. A season ago, defending NCAA champion and No. 1-ranked Carolina hosted No. 2 Maryland on April 5 and beat the Terrapins, 17-15, at Fetzer Field. This year, defending the national champion Terps will host No. 2 UNC in College Park.
Carolina is 3-0 this season and is returning to action after a week off since last Friday's 19-5 home win over High Point in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels will be playing their second road game against a top-five foe in three weeks, having beaten then-No. 3 Florida in Gainesville, Fla., on Feb. 7.
Maryland is 1-0 in 2015 with a 15-5 road win at William & Mary last Sunday. The Terrapins have won 11 games in a row dating to a loss to Carolina in Chapel Hill last season.
Since the middle of the 2012 season, Maryland has won 54 of its last 58 games. Three of those losses have come to Carolina, and the other was to Northwestern in the 2012 NCAA championship game.
Sophomore Alex Moore (a transfer from USC) leads the Tar Heels with nine goals and 10 points this season. All-America Brittney Coppa has returned with a spark after missing all of last season with a knee injury to score eight goals and average 3.0 draw controls per game through three contests.
The UNC goalie combination of Caylee Waters (2-0, .471 save percentage) and Megan Ward (1-0, .364), both of whom earned All-ACC honors last year, has limited Tar Heel opponents to 8.33 goals per game in 2015. UNC has outscored its opponents by 8.0 goals per game this season.
The Tar Heels will play at least eight of the other nine teams in the national preseason polls this spring, including Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Syracuse (No. 4), Virginia (No. 6), Boston College (No. 7), Duke (No. 8) and Notre Dame (No. 9) and non-conference foes Maryland (No. 1), Florida (No. 3) and Northwestern (No. 5).
Maryland leads the all-time series with North Carolina, 21-12. In the last two years, the teams have split four meetings. Last season, the Tar Heels beat the Terrapins, 17-15, on April 5, 2014, in Chapel Hill.
In 2013, these two teams met three times. Maryland beat UNC 14-13 in the regular season (on April 6 in College Park) and 12-8 in the ACC Tournament final (three weeks later in Chapel Hill). The Tar Heels beat the Terrapins, 13-12, in triple overtime in the NCAA Tournament championship game in Villanova, Pa.
Carolina has won the last two meetings in the series with Maryland, but the Terps have won six of the last nine and 10 of the last 15. The Tar Heels have never beaten the Terrapins in College Park, with Maryland winning all 10 previous meetings in the series on its campus.
Saturday's game will be the first meeting between the longtime, former Atlantic Coast Conference rivals since Maryland joined the Big Ten prior to the 2014-15 academic year.
