If there's ever been a question as to which college program dominates women's lacrosse - there's a simple answer.
University of Maryland.
The Terps have 13 national titles and eight consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances. They've played in 24 out of 34 NCAA Final Fours and 20 out of 34 NCAA Championship games.
This season, the top-seed Terps head to Foxboro to face fourth-seeded Penn State. The other semifinal game will feature Navy versus Boston College.
But University of Maryland isn't far from any of the Final Four programs. All four head coaches have either played or coached at University of Maryland.
Navy's head coach Cindy Timchal coached the Terps from 1991 - 2006. She coached all of the other final four coaches:
- Cathy Reese '98, University of Maryland head coach
- Missy Doherty '97, Penn State head coach
- Acaia Walker '05, Boston College head coach
Timchal is the NCAA's all-time leader in career wins. Her eight national titles is the most by a coach in a women's sport in NCAA history. In her 35th year coaching, she's fighting for more.
The Mids are traveling to the university's first women's final four in any sport. And they earned their sport, taking down the defending national champs Saturday.
See also: Navy women's lacrosse: 'We made history!'
"It was a wonderful day for Navy women's lacrosse," Timchal said Saturday after the game. "I am proud of our team for the effort they put out today. We beat a team with an unbelievable history of excellence in lacrosse. We have been playing good lacrosse so we felt we could say close and make it a good game. I don't think we looked at the scoreboard until the end. For today, we celebrate another win for Navy women's lacrosse and look forward to our next game."
Like Navy, Friday will be Boston College's first Final Four visit. The Eagles took down No. 7 Southern California last week.
For Maryland's head coach, Cathy Reese, the Final Four is a familiar place. She's won eight national championships as both a player and a coach.
In her 10th season as head coach, Reese is looking for another title. After being crowned champs in 2014 and 2015, the Terps fell to North Carolina in the championship last season, ending an otherwise perfect season.
Reese will face off against former teammate Missy Doherty, who has coached the Nittany Lions for the past seven years. Under Doherty, Penn State has reached five straight NCAA tournaments and four quarterfinals. Last year marked their first Final Four in 17 years. The Lions are back this season and hoping to upset the No. 1 Terps.
The women's lacrosse Final Four begins Friday May 26 at 5 p.m. from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
