The top four seeds survived the first two-rounds of the NCAA Division I field-hockey tournament and will gather at Wake Forest's Kentner Stadium this weekend to play for the national championship.
Maryland (22-0), the No. 1 seed and defending champion, will play No. 4-seeded Princeton (16-2) at 2 p.m. today in the first semifinal, and No. 2 Virginia (20-3) will play No. 3 North Carolina (18-2) in the second at 4:30. The semifinal winners will meet for the title at noon Sunday.
Maryland defeated Wake Forest 4-2 in last season's national-championship game in Louisville, Ky.
The unbeaten Terrapins will be favored to win their fourth title in five years -- and seventh overall -- but it won't be easy. Maryland and Princeton played earlier this season at Maryland. The game went to overtime before the Terrapins won 3-2 on a goal by Nicole Muracco. Maryland also went to overtime to beat Virginia 3-2 earlier this month in the ACC Tournament final.
"We've played all three teams," Maryland's Katie O'Donnell said yesterday at the tournament press conference. "We know pretty much everything we need to know going into this tournament about our opponents. Obviously, everybody does video, so I think every team is as prepared as they can be at the start of this competition."
O'Donnell was named the ACC offensive player of the year for the third consecutive year, and teammate Emma Thomas was the ACC's defensive player of the year. Coach Missy Meharg has led the Terps to a 389-100-9 record in 22 seasons and has been named national coach of the year seven times.
Princeton, in the NCAA Tournament for the 14th time, reached the championship game in 1996 and 1998. The Tigers lead the nation in scoring (4.89 goals a game), and sophomore Katie Reinprecht is a two-time Ivy League player of the year.
Virginia and North Carolina will meet for the third time this season. The Tar Heels won 2-1 in overtime at Virginia on Oct. 17 in the regular season. The Cavs got revenge in the ACC Tournament semifinals, winning 1-0 two weeks ago in Charlottesville, Va., on freshman Charlotte van den Broek's first career goal.
Michelle Madison, in her fourth season at Virginia, is the only coach to take three different Division I programs (Temple, Michigan State and Virginia) to the NCAA Tournament.
The Tar Heels are making their 14th appearance in the NCAA semifinals, all under Coach Karen Shelton. UNC has five national titles (1989, '95, '96, '97 and 2007), and Shelton, in her 29th season, has a career record of 480-133-9.
"I've always felt like the hardest thing to do is make it to the final four, and once you do that, the pressure is off," Shelton said." So it's just a fun time and a weekend to celebrate a great season. So we're loose, we're healthy, we're excited, and we look forward to it."
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