Maryland
Former women’s lacrosse defender Marge Donovan transfers to Maryland
Former Princeton ladies’s lacrosse defender Marge Donovan ’22 isn’t accomplished simply but.
This previous break-out season with the Tigers, Donovan earned All-American honors from the Intercollegiate Ladies’s Lacrosse Coaches Affiliation (IWLCA), a slate of Ivy League awards, and led the crew to the NCAA match as one of many 2022 captains.
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On July 28, No. 3 Maryland ladies’s lacrosse introduced that Donovan would use her 12 months of graduate eligibility to affix the Terps roster. Donovan is the second ladies’s sport athlete to decide to Maryland, becoming a member of ladies’s basketball guard Abby Meyers in School Park. The transfer can be a homecoming for Donovan, who performed highschool lacrosse in Catonsville, Md.
Donovan’s five-year stint with the Tigers was one for the historical past books. She joined the Princeton squad in 2017 as part of the second-best recruiting class within the nation that 12 months after wrapping up an undefeated 86–0 highschool profession. Snagging an All-Ivy Honorable Point out in her rookie 12 months, Donovan rapidly grew to become a cornerstone of Princeton ladies’s lacrosse. Donovan presently holds the Princeton all-time draw controls (DC) report for a profession (214), a single-season (112), and a single-game (12). Donovan can be eighth all-time in profession prompted turnovers (CT).
“That particular person milestone is unquestionably a mirrored image of all of the intentional, arduous work that the crew and coaches put into draw work,” Donovan wrote in an e-mail to The Each day Princetonian. “I take loads of pleasure in that accomplishment as a result of it displays the eagerness and pleasure I play with on the sector.”
The accolades Donovan has collected are intensive: three All-Ivy picks, 2022 Ivy Defender of the 12 months, a 2022 IWLCA All-American third-team choice, and the 2022 Ivy Event’s Most Excellent Participant, to call just a few. In final 12 months’s good 7–0 Ivy League common season, Donovan’s 1.68 prompted turnovers (CT) per sport was first within the League, whereas her 5.89 draw controls (DC) per sport was second within the league. In Princeton’s 15–9 win over UMass Amherst, which despatched them to the second spherical of the NCAA match, Donovan led Princeton’s defenders with six DC and two CT.
However, past the awards, it is the Princeton group Donovan says she’ll miss most. “My teammates and the crew’s alumni are my finest buddies and position fashions,” she wrote. “It was a privilege to play below Coach Sailer, and her legacy will at all times reside on in that program.”
Sailer, who coached the Tigers for 36 years, introduced her retirement earlier this 12 months.
Donovan’s excellence has already prolonged past the Orange Bubble. Donovan was the one Ivy League participant to be invited to tryout for Crew USA forward of the 2021 World Championships, and most lately gained silver on the 2022 World Video games.
Donovan enters a Maryland program well-known for its defensive gamers. Yearly since becoming a member of the Large Ten convention in 2015, the Terps have secured a Defender of the 12 months award and make frequent appearances within the Nationwide Defender of the 12 months race.
“[Donovan] is an unbelievable defender that we now have admired for years whereas watching and dealing with her at Princeton,” mentioned Maryland head coach Cathy Reese in Donovan’s dedication announcement. “We all know she is going to slot in seamlessly on our protection and assist us accomplish large issues subsequent season.”
For Donovan, who’s spent the final 5 seasons with the Tigers, the prospect of change brings pleasure and motivation. “I am most wanting ahead to the journey and problem of being on a brand new crew at a brand new faculty,” Donovan wrote. “I stay up for being the very best model of myself, to be the very best teammate and simplest participant I may be to assist the crew win.”
As for Donovan’s future within the sport, she’s remained targeted on the current. “I attempt to keep within the second and take issues as they arrive,” Donovan instructed the ‘Prince.’ Nevertheless, she additionally famous her future desires of taking part in professionally, citing Athletes Limitless (AU) as an inspiration.
At present within the midst of its third season, AU options weekly rotating rosters, in addition to alternatives for gamers to win as people and as a part of a crew. “[AU] is an unbelievable league with unbelievable expertise,” Donovan wrote. “I am very excited for the way forward for AU and the way forward for the game typically.”
Bold targets and large roles to fill will await Donovan when she joins the Terps, who’ve gained 5 NCAA championships within the final twelve seasons, most lately in 2019. Maryland could have their eyes on getting again to the finals in 2023, and Donovan will play a big position in serving to the Terps reprise their championship success.
Isabel Rodrigues is a contributor to the Sports activities part on the ‘Prince’ who usually covers ladies’s basketball. She may be reached at isabelr@princeton.edu or on Twitter @IsabelBarroso78.