It’s a new season for No. 2-seed Maryland field hockey. Despite dropping the Big Ten Tournament final to No. 1-seed Northwestern, the Terps have embraced a fresh start.
“This is a new season. We have an opportunity to come out here and do something very special,” senior defender Josie Hollamon said. “We can leave last season — the Big Ten Tournament — behind us, and we take the lessons from it, we take the learnings from it and we move on into this new season.”
The Terps will begin this new season
on Friday at noon against Wagner. The game will be held at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex in College Park and will be streamed on ESPN Plus.
Wagner Seahawks: 12-7 (8-0 NEC)
Head coach Aubrey Mytych is in her third season at Wagner and has already led the Seahawks to new heights. They went undefeated in conference play, captured their first NEC Tournament title and won their first NCAA Tournament game, defeating Fairfield, 1-0, in the first round. Mytych and her staff were named NEC Coaching Staff of the Year last week for their work guiding the best season in program history.
Players to watch:
Floortje Leunisse, senior forward, No. 4 – Leunisse is Wagner’s top offensive weapon, as evidenced by her NEC Co-Offensive Player of the Year award. The Dutch native has a team-high 13 goals to go along with six assists. She is also a high-volume shooter — her 87 total shots are 33 more than the next closest total on the squad.
Julia de Leeuw, sophomore defender, No. 35 – de Leeuw was named NEC Defensive Player of the Year, but she can also produce offensively. She has eight goals — her most recent served as the game-winner against Fairfield – and a team-high 10 assists. She has taken the second-most shots on the team behind just Leunisse.
Mia DiGenova, senior goalkeeper, No. 44 – DiGenova is another award-winning Seahawk, as she took home NEC Goalkeeper of the Year. Her performance on Wednesday against Fairfield was arguably the best of her short Wagner tenure, notching a season-high eight saves. Her shutout of the Stags was her sixth clean sheet of the season.
Victoria Gonzalez-Lopez, senior forward, No. 25 – Gonzalez-Lopez received All-NEC first-team honors, scoring five goals and recording four assists. She is the team’s primary inserter on penalty corners, suggesting that she’ll be a major piece of Wagner’s gameplan against Maryland’s stout defense.
Strength
Momentum. Wagner is one of the hottest teams in Division I field hockey. Since their 0-6 start this season, the Seahawks have ripped off 12 wins in their last 13 tries — their only blemish being a 3-1 loss to Big East opponent Villanova. In NEC play, Wagner topped nearly every major category, including goals for, goals allowed and save percentage. With an NCAA Tournament win now under their belts, the Seahawks remain hungry to slay a field hockey blue blood.
Weakness
Ranked and power conference opponents. This is the program’s eighth season, with Wagner 0-8 against power conference opponents – the Big Ten and ACC – and ranked opponents. It’ll be a tall task Friday, as the Seahawks prepare for their first-ever matchup against a top-ten opponent.
Three things to watch
- There’s a first time for everything. Friday’s matchup marks the first-ever meeting between Maryland and Wagner.
- Familiar face on the sideline. Former Terp Rayne Wright is in her second season as an assistant coach at Wagner. Wright played five seasons, 2020 through 2024, in College Park, starting 98 of 102 games and playing over 5,000 minutes. She was an All-Big Ten first-team selection in 2023 and an All-Big Ten second-team honoree in 2024.
- Veterans take the lead. Only four of Maryland’s 22 players were on the roster when Maryland last hosted NCAA Tournament matches in 2023, those being Josie Hollamon, Alyssa Klebasko, Maci Bradford and Maddie Vasilios. In addition, only one other Terp — Rachael Whitehead — has played in the NCAA Tournament, when she reached the second round with Delaware in 2024.
