Having already succeeded in the regular season and achieved an NCAA tournament quarterfinal berth, head coach Cathy Reese has led Maryland women’s lacrosse to a position many teams would dream of reaching. But with the expectations that come with donning the red, white, black and gold, it’s difficult for players to keep their sights away from a national title.
“You come to Maryland for one goal, and that’s to win a natty,” junior goalkeeper JJ Suriano said. “That goal is what’s driving us.”
As the
Terps prepare to take on No. 6-seed Navy in the quarterfinals, Reese aims to maintain her consistent season-long message — going “1-0” on the day — in her 20th season at the helm.
That message has been a mainstay for Maryland in the locker room, on the sidelines and on the field. Reese and her staff believe that their talented roster has certain qualities perfectly enabling them to be receptive to that message of staying in the moment.
“They’re just really special because they have such a good balance of being extremely dialed, but also understanding that having fun is a part of the journey,” assistant coach and 2010 national champion Alex Aust Holman said.
Reese entered the 2026 season tasked with a challenge she had rarely faced in her time coaching in College Park — she had to coach a team of players who had never played in a national semifinal game.
Expectations for this roster were moderately high for the Terps heading into the season as they earned the No. 7 spot on the IWLCA preseason ranking. But internally, expectations were far higher among both players and coaches. A big part of that perception came from Maryland’s new-look attacking core.
“Our depth is crazy this year. We have so much talent…” midfielder Jordyn Lipkin said after the Terps’ season-opening win over Syracuse. “But at the end of the day, no one’s scoring without our offense executing the way that we need to.”
And Maryland’s offense did execute, leading the charge to a 13-0 start and the No. 1 ranking just three games before the Big Ten tournament. Reese said the energy around the team was unlike anything she had seen in recent seasons.
Throughout that run, she maintained the same message, focusing on incremental improvements.
“That’s just really been our approach as a coaching staff,” Reese said. “Just stay locked in and focused on getting better, one practice at a time, one play at a time, one game at a time.”
Despite the fiery start, the Terps ran into a brick wall in their regular season matchup against Northwestern, losing by a single goal in a performance riddled with mistakes. Maryland followed that with a disastrous 15-4 loss to Michigan that tied its lowest-scoring outing in 44 years.
Reese held Maryland together, preaching the same message that she and her players have echoed all season long.
“Flush it. We got to put it behind us…” Reese told her players in Ann Arbor. “Let’s learn from it, so it can be a positive in our journey.”
The message landed, as the Terps regrouped to take down Ohio State and earn the No. 2-seed in the conference tournament. It was there that Maryland faced its hardest battles.
The Terps played in three one-goal games over the course of the tournament, with the latter two decided in overtime. The high-stakes run ended tragically in the final second of extra time, when the Terps ceded the conference championship to Northwestern in another single-score loss. In Reese’s eyes, the experience was necessary for the team to improve.
“It was just crazy,” Reese said. “And so just really proud of our effort. And I feel like we learned from that. We did get better from that.”
The Terps had to scramble, rushing out of the stadium to make a flight less than two hours after the conclusion of the game. After arriving back in College Park, Maryland had a two-week period to recover before the national tournament. Reese took full advantage of the time away, helping her squad strengthen its internal bonds.
“Cathy told us, ‘You don’t have to beat 28 teams. You have to beat four. That’s all you got to do. So take it one day at a time,’” Suriano recalled.
Keeping the locker room intact after a late stumble would be a tall task for any coach to tackle. But for those closest to her, it’s where Reese shines the brightest. Attacker Keeley Block described Reese’s philosophy as “more process focused rather than outcome focused,” leading Maryland to the success it had for most of the season.
“Cathy is unwavering, that’s what makes her Cathy,” Holman said. “She believes in us more than anyone, in our process and our culture and in our hard work.”
After taking down Rutgers in the second round, the Terps are a win away from making the NCAA Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2019. But still, Reese aims to stay grounded holding fast to her messaging that has propelled Maryland to its successful campaign.
And her stars are completely bought in.
“At this point it’s really one at a time. It’s one play, one possession, one defensive stop, one save, one shot,” Suriano said. “It all accumulates to an entire game, and hopefully you go 1-0 on the day with that win.”
