She moved back to Maryland to coach her alma mater, not for the snow. But Wednesday, new Maryland women?s lacrosse coach Cathy Nelson Reese was trying to figure out how to commute from her home in Ellicott City to College Park to lead her team through practice. The difficulty of that trek dwarfs that of her return from the University of Denver, where she led the program to its most successful season in 2006.
“I was really excited about the opportunity,” Reese said. “It?s exciting going back to the place that you played.”
Reese is very familiar with the program, having led Maryland to four national titles as a player from 1995 to ?98. She also was an assistant with the Terps before joining the staff at Denver.
“There are six seniors on the team, all of which I recruited as an assistant coach before I left,” Reese said. “And I never had an opportunity to work with them. It?s really neat to come back to that.”
Reese takes over for her former coach Cindy Timchal, who now heads the program at Navy. The Terps went 12-8 in 2006, including a 2-3 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. They open the season Monday at UMBC.
“We?re in a tough conference, but an exciting conference, as well,” Reese said.
