At last year’s NCAA Championship, the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team had to overcome an early 6-0 deficit against Northwestern in order to capture their first title since 2001.

This season, the Terps will face a slightly easier path in their championship defense.

Though the national tournament is still weeks away, the Terps’ chances at repeating are already becoming evident. The Terps topped the Wildcats, winners of five straight titles entering 2010, 13-11 in the 2010 championship game, and with just over a month until this season’s NCAA Championship, the Terps are the clear favorite to repeat in 2011.

The No. 1 Terps have won 25 straight games and remain perfect on the season (15-0, 5-0 ACC). The Wildcats still loom at No. 5 the rankings, but the divide between the Terps and the rest of the competition considerably more apparent than it has been in seasons past.

Perennial contender Northwestern began the season 12-0, but lost twice this past week, falling in narrow contests to No. 2 Florida and Johns Hopkins.

The Gators are another team that could pose a threat to the Terps, but even with a rise near the top of the polls, they remain relatively unproven. The Florida program is only in its second season of competition and features a roster with just one upperclassman—26 of the 27 players are freshman or sophomores. Even with a talented roster, the Gators are inexperienced in tournament play.

The Terps have also faced seven schools ranked in the deBeer Women’s Media Poll top 20—No. 4 Duke, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 9 Penn, No. 10 Virginia, No. 11 James Madison, No. 12 Boston College and No. 19 Princeton. The closest game the Terps played against these opponents was a three-goal victory over the ACC-rival Tar Heels, and the rest of their contests against ranked opponents were decided by at least seven goals.

The Terps will continue their season on Friday, where they will look to capture their third straight ACC title. And when the 2011 NCAA tournament gets underway mid-May, there will be a pack of hungry teams looking to unseat the defending national champions.

But with a championship-caliber roster and a wealth of tournament experience, the Terps talent may be too much for their competitors to overcome.

Josh Vitale is The Diamondback’s women’s lacrosse beat reporter. He can be reached at vitale@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JoshVitale.

With its 20-11 victory against Georgetown on Wednesday, the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team won yet another top-10 match-up this season, adding to an already impressive resume. But when the rankings come out on Monday, Inside Lacrosse will most likely still rank Northwestern as the top team in the land.

The win against the Hoyas didn’t just boost the Terps’ resume, it also added to an interesting comparison between them and Northwestern. The Wildcats defeated Georgetown 15-10 earlier this season, also on their home field.

So without further ado here’s a team-by-team breakdown:

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DURHAM, N.C. – Sorry I have been so late to the game here but if you didn’t hear, the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team dismantled No. 5 Duke today down in Durham to the tune of 17-4.

From the opening draw, the No. 2 Terps (3-0) attacked the Duke defense relentlessly and erased any doubts from their slow start at Penn State last weekend.

Goals came in rapid succession after Sarah Mollison at attack notched the first of three goals on the afternoon only 1:22 into the match. The Terps rallied off four straight goals before Duke responded with one in with a little less than 11 minutes remaining in the half. It would be the last Duke goal in the first half, as the Terps enjoyed a 9-1 advantage at the break.

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The Terrapin women’s lacrosse team starts its season this Sunday at home against Richmond at 2 p.m., if the weather holds up. This is an abbreviated season preview for the team.

Defeat.

It’s something the Terrapin women’s lacrosse team only experienced once last season. After building on one of the finest seasons in recent program history, the Terps avoided any taste of defeat throughout the year.

The Terps were supposed to be good, just not that good. Losing five of their top six scorers from 2008, the team ran rampant through its regular season schedule unscathed.

But it seemingly ended as soon as it started. In the Final Four, the Terps hit a wall against North Carolina, a team they beat just weeks earlier, and lost for the first time of the season – one game away from what they were working for all year.

Since then, the Terps have had more than eight months to soak in the loss.

Right now, head coach Cathy Reese has her team focused and ready. The Terps return all 12 starters from last year’s team that earned the program’s first ACC Championship and Final Four Berth since 2003.

The team enters every preseason poll ranked No. 2, behind perennial power Northwestern, who has won five straight national championships and finished last year undefeated.

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