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Maryland women’s lacrosse senior goalie Megan Taylor was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after dominant performances against UMBC and Hofstra.
First time this year. Ninth in her career!
— Maryland Women's Lax (@MarylandWLax) March 5, 2019
Megan Taylor is the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week!! https://t.co/lRc4hmVsng#FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/puqBBvsxdY
In those two games, Taylor made 11 saves and allowed just six goals, a .647 percentage. She played just 64 minutes total, as Maryland throttled UMBC 18-1 and easily handled Hofstra 17-9. For the season, Taylor has saved 55.7 percent of the shots she’s faced, the sixth-highest mark in the nation and second-highest among goalies who have played at least 250 minutes.
This is Taylor’s ninth career Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honor. She captured the award once as a freshman in 2016, four times in 2017 and three times last spring. Taylor is the two-time reigning Big Ten Goaltender of the Year, but her current save percentage is the highest of her career (her previous best was 53.5 percent in 2017, the Terps’ 23-0 championship season).
Maryland hosts No. 4 Syracuse at noon ET Saturday on BTN2Go.
In other news
In the last Maryland sporting event before Friday, baseball held off Delaware for an 11-6 win.
Maryland football officially announced its spring game will be held April 27 as part of a Maryland Day tripleheader.
Here’s Lila on Melo Trimble, who returned to College Park for the Michigan game on Sunday.
Minnesota, the Terps’ senior night opponent, just beat Purdue. That makes Maryland’s quest for a double bye even tougher. (The Terps had tiebreaker over Wisconsin if Purdue won the league, but that’s more in jeopardy now.)
After tonight's action, there are 3 scenarios where Maryland earns a double bye in the Big Ten tournament:
— James Crabtree-Hannigan (@JamesCrabtreeH) March 6, 2019
• Wisconsin goes 0-2, and Maryland wins
• Wisconsin goes 0-2, Iowa goes 2-0 and Maryland loses
• Wisconsin goes 1-1, and Maryland, Purdue and MSU win
In women’s basketball news, the All-ACC first team includes former Terps Kiara Leslie (now at NC State) and Kiah Gillespie (Florida State). Destiny Slocum was one of 15 All-Pac-12 selections.
With conference tournaments starting, our SB Nation friends have all the March Madness content you could hope for. Here’s the complete guide to conference championship week, and here’s a love letter to the madness on its way.
And today is Giving Day! You can show your support for all things Maryland—athletics and beyond—by going to givingday.umd.edu and, well, giving money.