Maryland Women's Lacrosse Earns NCAA Tournament Berth
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Boom! The Maryland Terrapins women's lacrosse team has earned its 36th consecutive NCAA Tournament Berth as the No. 3 overall seed. It will host not only the first-round contests but also the second-round at SECU Stadium. The Terps await the winners of the matchup between Princeton (11-6) vs. Rutgers (10-8, 4-4 Big Ten) on Friday, May 8th, to see who they'll face two days later on Mother's Day.
Maryland Women's Lacrosse Earns 36th Consecutive NCAA Tournament Berth
— Cʜᴜᴄᴋ ᴅᴏᴜɢʟᴀs ✪ (@ChuckDouglas_) May 4, 2026
The Terps earned the NCAA Tournament's No. 3 overall seed and will host first and second rounds games at SECU Stadium.
Maryland (16–3) will host the winner of Princeton (11–6) vs. Rutgers (10–8).. The… pic.twitter.com/X8iZGGP01y
Maryland (16-3, 6-2 Big Ten) has faced off against both Princeton and Rutgers this season winning both contests convincingly.
Back on Feb. 28th, the Terps defeated Princeton 16-12 at SECU Stadium, a game in which top scorers Kori Edmondson and Keeley Block accounted for half of Maryland's goals. Edmondson and Block each finished the contest scoring four goals each, with three other Terps netting multi-goal games as well.
Against Rutgers on April 4th at home once again, the Terps dominated the in-conference foe Scarlet Knights, where they scored 12 first-half goals, led by junior Lauren LaPointe, who scored four times.
Despite a disappointing finish in the Big Ten Tournament, where the Terps bowed out in the Championship Game in an 8-7 heartbreaking overtime loss against the No. 1-seeded Northwestern, Maryland had an amazing 2026 regular season.
The Terps jumped out to a hot, historic 13-0 start to the season, which allowed them to briefly hold the No. 1 ranking in the country, their best since the 2019 season, when the Terps went 22-1 overall and en route to their 15th National Title. However, back-to-back losses against Northwestern and Michigan at the end of the season caused the perfect season hopes to end.
Legendary Hall of Fame head coach Cathy Reese continues not only her consistency but also her dominance in year 19, throughout women's lacrosse, manning top-notch teams in College Park that are always in the race for the National Championship.
Helping lead her team is top goal-scorer LaPointe, who finished the season with a career-high 59 goals (14 nationally), 22 assists, team-leading five game-winning goals, and 81 points.
Edmondson scored 44 goals, Block added 34, and graduate student Kristen Shanahan rounded out the 30+ goals scorers on the team with 38 tallies.
Edmondson wasn't just impactful on the offensive side: she had 18 groundballs, caused 10 turnovers, and secured a second team-best 76 draw controls.
Midfielder Jordyn Lipkin had a productive year, scoring 22 goals with 25 assists for a total of 47 points, and 14 groundballs. Midfielder Kayla Gilmore finished with 15 points on the season (11 goals, four assists), while racking in 20 groundballs, causing nine turnovers, and securing a team-leading 106 draw controls.
Maryland's offense was the main source of its hot start and strong overall season: ranking 27th nationally in scoring offense (13 goals per contest), 26th nationally in shots on goal (21.79 shots on goal per contest), 36th nationally in assists (6.47 assists per contest), 30th nationally in scoring margin (3.11), and 31st nationally in points per game (19.47 points per contest).
Manning the back end for the Terps were defenders Neve O'Ferrall, Annabella Schafer, Maddy Sterling, and Kennedy Majors holding opponents to 9.89 goals per game.
Goaltender JJ Suriano earned the 2026 Big Ten Goaltender of the Year, posting a 16-3 overall record in the net, making 197 total saves with a .517 save percentage, which ranked top five in the country.
Up Next:
The Terps await their opponent for Sunday's Second Round matchup of the NCAA Tournament at 12 p.m at SECU Stadium. They will face the winner of Friday's First Round matchup between Princeton/Rutgers.
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Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.