Fresh off its second straight ACC championship, Maryland's women's lacrosse team ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Inside Lacrosse media poll this morning.
The top ranking is the first for the Terrapins since March 2003.
Maryland earned the No. 1 berth by defeating last week's No. 1 North Carolina, 10-5, in the ACC Tournament championship Sunday at Ludwig Field. North Carolina had assumed the top spot by beating Northwestern the previous Sunday. Northwestern, the five-time defending NCAA champion, had held the top spot since May of 2008. Carolina's 18-16 victory ended a 41-game Wildcats' win streak.
At 16-1, Maryland lost only to North Carolina, now No. 3 behind the Wildcats, during the regular season.
Hearing of the top ranking, Terps coach Cathy Reese said ,"Yeah," but quickly put it in perspective for a team that's goal is to win the national championship.
"At this point in the year, it really doesn't mean anything. It doesn't have anything to do with where we're sitting in the NCAA Tournament," Reese said.
Still, she was pretty happy about it.
"It's great for our team to have earned that ranking at this point, because it shows how had they've been working and the success that they've had through the games so far, but we do still have two regular-season games left and when the NCAA rankings come out, that obviously ends up determining what bracket we'll be in. I really commend them on everything that they've done so far this season, but if you talk to them too, we're just looking ahead at who's next."
The Terps are aiming to win their first national championship since 2001, a title that capped a record seven-year run as NCAA champs. Reese played on the first four of those national championship teams.
"As an alumni not even speaking as coach," Reese said, "it's so great to see Maryland lacrosse up at the top. We have so much pride and passion for Maryland athletics as a whole and especially the women's lacrosse program that as an alumni, I'm completely proud of this group and what they've achieved at this point, but there's a lot left to be accomplished."
The Terps will be back in action at home Saturday against Massachussets and they complete the regular season May 8 at home against Dartmouth.