Tigers Visit Terrapins Wednesday Night

No. 14 Princeton at No. 2 Maryland l Wednesday, March 27 l 7 PM I Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium
TV: FS1 l Watch l Live Stats

The Princeton women's lacrosse team will be renewing its rivalry with Maryland for the 40th time when the teams meet in College Park Wednesday evening.

For this meeting, the teams will be doing something they've never done before: They'll be playing in March.

Maybe scheduling is getting more complex, but the Princeton-Maryland rivalry is one worth preserving. The teams have played every year since 1993, and in several of those years, the teams played in the regular season and the NCAA tournament.

The 2019 meeting offers Princeton a chance to turn the page on Saturday's stunning 12-11 loss at home against Brown, though this challenge is a big one. Maryland is one of three unbeaten teams in Division I, along with Boston College and Michigan, and the Terps are ranked second in Division I behind BC.

Princeton vs. Maryland: Five storylines

Strength against strength
Maryland enters the game ranked third in Division I in scoring defense, allowing 7.1 goals per game. Princeton averages more than twice that many, scoring 14.86 goals per game, which ranks 12th in Division I.

Beyond that, Maryland's Megan Taylor leads Division I in save percentage, at .585, which is far ahead of the next-best figure, the .537 of Mt. St. Mary's Jillian Petito.

Princeton, on the other hand, ranks second in the country in team shooting percentage, at .520. Maryland's 10 opponents have shot .303 for the year.

Series history
Maryland leads the all-time series 31-8 and has won 13 straight against the Tigers. The teams have played six times in the NCAA Final Four, including a 10-7 Princeton win in the 1994 championship game for the first of Princeton's three NCAA titles.

A year ago, Maryland defeated Princeton 11-10 on a free-position goal with 45.1 seconds to play. Princeton was up by 7-4 at the half and by four goals in the second half before the Terps rallied to win.

The turnover story
Princeton is 5-2 on the year, and turnovers are a big part of the story.

In its two losses, Princeton has committed 46 turnovers, or 23.0 per game. In the five wins, Princeton has committed 72 turnovers, or 14.4 per game.

Through 10 games, all of which were wins, Maryland has had its opponents turn the ball over 130 time, or 13.0 per game.

More turnovers
Princeton (11.6) also causes twice as many turnovers per game than Maryland (5.8). In fact, Princeton has more caused turnovers (81) in seven games than Maryland does in 10 (58).

What Maryland doesn't do is turn the ball over itself. In fact, the Terps average 11.7 per game, which is the second-best total in the country. Maryland is especially efficient on clears, a category in which the Terps lead all of Division I, with just 10 failed clears all year, or one per game. And this is in 183 attempts.

Both teams are in the top 20 in the country in draw control percentage.

Century club
Princeton has had three players reach major milestones recently involving the number 100. First, junior Tess D'Orsi reached 100 career goals in the win over Stony Brook, and she now has 106 goals and 139 points for her career.

In that same game sophomore Kyla Sears reached 100 career points, and she now has 114 points (84G, 30A) in 26 career games.

Most recently, senior Elizabeth George got to 100 career goals, after reaching 100 career points in the season opener. George now has 100 career goals and 29 career assists.

Next up would be Kathryn Hallett, a senior who enters the Maryland game with 96 career points, on 72 goals and 22 assists. Hallett went from 16 points as a freshman to 31 as a sophomore to 33 as a junior to now 16 in the first seven games of this season. Hallett also leads Division I in free position percentage, going 6 for 7 so far this season, and has 13 goals on 16 shots overall, for an .813 percentage that would lead Division I were she at the minimum of 3.0 shots per game.

Other notes

* Princeton ranks seventh in the country and first in the Ivy League in assists per game at 8.0. Princeton has scored 104 goals, of which 56 have been assisted.

* Princeton has three players with 20 goals through seven games – Tess D'Orsi (26) and Elizabeth George and Kyla Sears (20 each). All three of them are shooting better than 50 percent.

* Junior Tess D'Orsi and sophomores Mary Murphy and Kyla Sears are the only two current Princeton players to have started every game of their careers.

* Sophomore Marge Donovan leads the team in both caused turnovers (11) and ground balls (16, tied with Sam Fish).

* Princeton is off Saturday and next plays at home against Villanova Tuesday, April 2.

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Tess D'Orsi

Marge Donovan

Sam Fish

Elizabeth George

Kathryn Hallett

Mary Murphy

Kyla Sears

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