NCAA Rewind: Home Woes Doomed Maryland

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

MARYLAND

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: No. 6/No. 6
2024 record: 14-6 (4-2 Big Ten)

What went right: Led by IWLCA All-Americans Meghan Ball, Eloise Clevenger and Emily Sterling, the Terps earned some huge wins during the regular season behind a stout defense. Ball, the transfer from Rutgers, fit right into the Maryland defense in front of Sterling, who had the fourth-best save percentage (.530) in the country. The defense was eighth in the country.

A thrilling overtime win at Syracuse in the second game of the year served notice that Maryland would be a contender again. In a college season marked by parity, especially over the first two months, the Terps were ranked No. 1 on March 25 after reeling off six straight wins following a one-goal loss to Florida, including wins over Denver and James Madison. Maryland also handed Michigan its first loss of the year and beat Johns Hopkins and Princeton down the stretch.

Maryland crushed Robert Morris in the first round of its 34th consecutive NCAA tournament berth, with Julia Hammerschlag filling in for an injured Sterling in net. The Terps then proved their win over James Madison was no fluke with an even more convincing 17-7 win behind Clevenger’s career-high five goals along with three assists to reach the NCAA quarterfinals, where Florida beat them again. Clevenger led the Terps in assists and points for the second straight season.

Maryland ranked fourth nationally in draw controls, led by Shaylan Ahearn (111) and Ball (77). Sterling was a rock in net and ended her career fourth in program history with 670 saves.

What went wrong: The biggest headscratcher was Maryland’s sub-.500 record at the revamped Maryland Field Hockey and Women’s Lacrosse Complex that reopened in December. The Terps were 9-0 on the road but just 5-6 at home, equaling the number of losses they had at home in the previous 13 seasons combined. The worst of those was their Big Ten tournament quarterfinal upset loss to a sub-.500 Rutgers team after Sterling left the game in the second quarter due to injury.

They also dropped their first game as the No. 1-ranked team at home to Penn, the start of losing three of their final six regular-season games before falling to Rutgers.

The Terps averaged just 10.5 goals per game over those seven games. Their offense ranked 55th in the country in scoring (12.35 goals per game) despite returning 97 percent of their offensive production from a year ago. It was their lowest offensive output since a 10-7 season in 2021.

Their shooting percentage (39) ranked 98th and cost them dearly. The offense didn’t have the same sizzle as usual top Terps teams that would overwhelm teams with athleticism. They relied too much on Hannah Leubecker and Eloise Clevenger, who accounted for 42.5 percent of Maryland’s points. That ineffectiveness and inaccuracy put a lot of pressure on their defense.

Season highlight: Just three days after falling to Penn, Maryland rallied in the second half to hand Michigan its first loss of the season. Clevenger had a hat trick and the Terps defense was outstanding, forcing 15 turnovers in the game and holding Michigan scoreless over the final 23:53. Ball had seven draw controls and a season-high five ground balls.

Verdict: Maryland has the loftiest of standards, so despite some big regular-season wins, the early exit from the Big Ten tournament and not reaching the NCAA final four for the second straight season was a disappointment. The Terps still finished just about where prognosticators expected, just not where they wanted to.