The Maryland women’s lacrosse team, holders of 15 national championships (one in the NAIA, 14 NCAA Division I), has had a number of places to call home over the years.
Before 1995, the lacrosse team played its home games at Denton Field, and also hosted consecutive national tournaments at the school’s cavernous football stadium, Byrd.
During the program’s purple patch in the 1990s, the team played at Ludwig Field, which was shared by the university’s soccer and track teams. Owing to the rules of the time, some of the track features such as the high-jump pit and the runway for the long jump were occasionally in play.
More recently, however, Maryland has played at a shared field hockey/women’s lacrosse complex, one which has become a mecca for field hockey, but has become somewhat of a conundrum for the lacrosse team. Because of turf replacements (one of which was reportedly caused by a snowplow trying to clear the field a few years back), there were times when the lacrosse team had to play at Byrd Stadium, which has been renamed SECU for the purposes of corporate naming rights.
That included the 2019 and part of the 2023 season, when the Terrapins posted 19 wins and one defeat. But in the last two seasons at the more intimate Lacrosse & Field Hockey Complex (yep, we’re calling it that), Maryland has posted a 15-9 record.
I’m not sure why this is the case; both SECU and the LFHC are laid out with 100-yard by 60-yard playing areas for women’s lacrosse. Both have artificial competition surfaces, but one is water-based and one is rubber infill.
Sure, when it comes to the game of lacrosse, it’s the quality of players and teamwork that make the difference as to whether a team wins or loses.
But it will be interesting to see how Maryland plays in its home matches and whether there are differences in strategy or results depending on the home ground.
More relevant to the game of lacrosse as a whole, I also wonder if we’re going to see more women’s teams choosing to play in larger venues over the next few years. Last year’s Final Four, remember, was played in an NFL stadium in Foxboro, Md. The lacrosse community in New England responded, breaking the record with 14,423 announced as attendees.
Which makes me wonder if we’re going to see more teams moving from intimate facilities to larger grounds, and whether you could see these being done on a permanent basis.