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Cathy Reese knew 2020 would be a rebuilding year for Maryland.

The Terrapins graduated seven starters off the one-loss team that won a national championship in 2019 and needed to replace more than 50 percent of their scoring production. They had some key players return, like attackers Kali Hartshorn and Brindi Griffin and defenders Lizzie Colson and Meghan Doherty, but for the most part were a new and young group.

Reese couldn’t have known what the 2020 campaign would actually look like. First, a three-game losing skid for the first time since 2006. Then, the season cut short after six games because of a pandemic, leaving Maryland at 3-3 for the program’s first non-winning record since 1976. 

Nine months after their spring slate came to an abrupt end, the Terrapins find themselves in an interesting rebuilding moment once again heading into 2021. This time around, though, they’ll open a bit better out of the gate — still with some major holes to fill but with nine starters returning, one big name back from injury and a host of young players now with game time under their belts.

“We had a really talented group of players (in 2020), but we needed to get experience,” Reese said. “Even having only six games, the chance to get people out on the field and welcome them to college lacrosse, and put the baseline and foundation out there for them was huge for us.”

Underclassmen showed promise through the shortened campaign. Freshmen and sophomores accounted for 25 of the team’s 76 goals. Some players who had traditionally come off the bench as reserves, like junior midfielder Hannah Warther, earned starting spots and found success. Warther ended the season with 14 goals.

The Terrapins have a number of big names not returning. Hartshorn and Doherty both elected to not return for fifth years, leaving holes in the draw circle and defensive backlines, respectively. Defender Emma Schettig, who had a breakout freshman campaign in College Park, transferred to Notre Dame.

But Reese is confident in the leadership that her team does bring back, and in the now-experienced returnees’ abilities to fill those holes. Griffin, the team’s leading scorer, and Colson, who missed all of 2020 with an ACL injury, have both returned. Those two join senior midfielder Grace Griffin as captains for 2021, and Reese praised their leadership throughout this fall offseason.

“It’s definitely a challenge, but I thought my group of players did a great job,” Reese said. “They were just resilient and tough and strong and positive, and they came out ready to work. I think that’s really going to pay off in the long run.”

The two Griffins (no relation) and Colson know how to win. All three played key roles on the Terrapins’ 2019 championship team. Amid the trials and tribulations of 2020 — the shortened season, the 3-3 record, even the ups and downs of this offseason — they learned what it takes to build back.

This upcoming campaign will show if they can build back again, but this time, even stronger.

“The challenges of leading during everything they’ve gone through has been a real area of growth for them, too,” Reese said. “To have them back on the field, it just raises the energy around. Those three as personalities mean so much to this team, and they can really come and lead as we go into this year.”

TOP RETURNERS

Lizzie Colson, D, Redshirt Sr.

Colson was a force to be reckoned with in her 2019 junior campaign, leading Maryland in ground balls. The Terrapins felt her absence in 2020, as she redshirted to recover from an ACL injury, and her return is one of Maryland’s chief reasons for optimism going into 2021.

Brindi Griffin, A, Gr.

The Terrapins’ star attacker was the first senior to announce her return to Maryland for a fifth year, after dropping a team-best 15 goals and dishing out three assists in what was set to be a banner 2020. Griffin has proven over her years in College Park — perhaps most memorably with her six-goal performance in the 2019 Final Four against Northwestern — how valuable an asset she is to the Terrapins attack.

Grace Griffin, M, Sr.

Griffin started all six games for Maryland in 2020, primarily as a defensive midfielder, and posted two goals, 17 ground balls and eight caused turnovers. She broke onto the scene in 2018 as the lone freshman starter on that year’s Final Four team and has built up a strong resume since, with an All-Big Ten honor and a hat trick in the 2019 championship game.

KEY ADDITION

Eloise Clevenger, M, Fr.

Clevenger joins the Terrapins after an impressive high school career. She scored 87 goals and added 26 assists over two full seasons at Marriotts Ridge, an hour north of College Park, and was one of three incoming freshmen named Under Armour All-Americans this spring. Her older sister, Shay, is a junior starting defender at Loyola.

ENEMY LINES

“You can never discount Maryland. Last year was a bit of an anomaly. I would have liked to have seen what they were going to do at the end of the season because they were trending upwards. But they’re back with the pack. I don’t think they’re where they were. We’ll see how they respond from last year.” 

NUMBERS GAME

421

Career draw controls recorded by Kali Hartshorn, good for the second-most in Maryland history. Hartshorn was a stable force in the draw circle for the Terrapins for the last four years, and it’ll be a very tall order to replace that level of consistency.