Fast and fit.
Those two words are the perfect way to describe Maryland field hockey in 2026. The Terps are playing at a never-before-seen pace with a dynamic attack that seeks to use the whole field and the entire bench. Behind this offense, the Terps have reestablished themselves as national title contenders as the autumn rolls on.
While most of the offensive production comes from midfielders and forwards, it’s the defenders that originate everything. Senior Josie Hollamon has been instrumental in this
process.
“She’s playing lots of different brands of hockey out of the back. She can thread the ball and she can snap pass the ball with the same speed that some people can hit it,” head coach Missy Meharg said. “So, her skills out of the back … and the way she has changed and manipulated defenses … changes our game.”
According to Meharg, the Terps employ a zonal defense that creates lots of open spaces and allows Hollamon to quickly distribute the ball in four ways: through the midfield, over the midfield, with “guard” — it involves bringing the ball up, dropping it back, then pushing it forward — and around the midfield. Hollamon has consistently mixed and matched these four methods to initiate the offense.
“What she’s doing right now is sharing those four ways, and subsequently, we’re hard to press, and I think she’s setting up our attack,” Meharg said.
Once Hollamon earns possession and scans the field, Maryland’s speedsters go to work. The midfield is littered with track-level athletes, such as Feliz Kuhne, Jordyn Hollamon, Brinkley Eyre and Maia Adamson. These players stretch the field, move the ball quickly and generate constant offensive opportunities.
The athletic midfield represents a trend of recent recruiting for the Terps. Over the past few seasons, Meharg and her coaching staff have placed an emphasis on recruiting players who can handle rapid tempo. This year’s freshman class includes Kendall Gilmore, a state champion runner in high school; Aida Ierubino, who Meharg proclaimed is the fastest runner on the team; and Lily Mitchell, who hasn’t played much this season but is slated to be a huge piece down the line.
With an abundance of high-stamina athletes, Meharg and her staff are able to seamlessly cycle through players without losing intensity. This has paid dividends, as the Terps already have 10 players with multiple goals and 11 players with at least five points.
“What I like … is that you’re working, you’re working, you’re working, and when they’re tired at all, we bring them off and we’re able to rotate other players that can do that off-ball running at top speed,” Meharg said.
However, speed isn’t the only factor behind Maryland’s offense, as the Terps have seen an uptick in productivity on penalty corners. Francisca Eschoyez is a major reason why, as the junior defender has utilized an effective drag flick to notch seven goals off set pieces in 2026.
“She really likes the pressure, she finds it a privilege and she loves the set skill and technical part of drag flicking,” Meharg said. “When I recruited Fran, one of the biggest things about her was her ability on penalty corners.”
Maci Bradford and Babs van Hest have also been excellent in penalty corner execution. Bradford’s insert reaches the top of the circle in less than a second, according to Meharg, while van Hest has been able to control nearly every pass; she rarely lets the ball bounce away from her. This combination of speed and accuracy gives Eschoyez more time to calculate the ideal shot.
Even when the initial shot off a corner fails, the Terps are right there to clean up the mess. Three times this season the Terps have crashed the cage after misses to score the rebound, including against Delaware, when the elder Hollamon found her younger sister for the Terps’ fourth goal of the afternoon.
While the 2026 Terps may not be putting up the same offensive numbers as some of Meharg’s prior championship teams – the 41 goals through 12 games only bests the marks of the 1993 and 2005 title squads – the success is undeniable. If the Terps can keep stamina high and fatigue low, a return to Louisville – where the Terps won their last national championship – might be in the near-future.
