Stowers gets into swing in a big way
Westburg breaks out of cold spell too; Rodriguez still hot
Adley Rutschman’s delayed debut has provided the Orioles at least one benefit.
MLB Pipeline updated its prospect rankings this week, with several players near the top of the list falling off after spending enough time in the majors to no longer qualify. That group includes top-five prospects in Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr., Detroit’s Spencer Torkelson and Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez.
But it doesn’t include Rutschman, who — as those players did for their clubs — might have started the year on Baltimore’s season-opening roster if not for a right triceps strain suffered early in spring training. He’s still prospect eligible for the time being, meaning the Orioles have two of the game’s top three prospects with righthander
Grayson Rodriguez moving up to No. 3.
Rodriguez was one of several players in the upper levels of the Orioles’ system who stood out last week. Each week, The Baltimore Sun will break down five of the top performers in the Orioles’ prospect ranks and hand out some superlatives for those who didn’t make that cut.
When the No. 2 seed Terps meet No. 3 seed and reigning national champion Boston College (18-3) in Friday’s NCAA Tournament semifinal at 5:30 p.m. at Johns Hopkins’ Homewood Field in Baltimore, coach Cathy Reese is glad she can turn to the Bel Air resident and John Carroll graduate in the net.
“She’s the last line of the defense before the ball gets into the goal. So she’s had just a tremendous season so far and has made just some outstanding saves,” Reese said. “Lacrosse is a game of momentum swings. So as soon as she comes up with that big stop, that just gets everyone fired up to have another opportunity on the offensive end.”
Sterling would rather shift the spotlight around, continuing to share any praise with her teammates on the defensive end of the field. But she acknowledged that she has recently raised her level of play.
“I think it’s the most confidence I’ve ever had,” she said. “I really think it’s just the beginning for us.”
Sterling, who has been a goalkeeper since she was 10 years old, is in the midst of a campaign that seems a 180-degree reversal from the start of her career with the Terps. In spring 2019, her senior year at John Carroll ended suddenly in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland playoffs when she was checked by an opponent and tore the ACL in her left knee during a game against Glenelg Country.
Sterling was not cleared to return until about two weeks before the 2020 season began at Maryland. The late arrival did not help her prepare for the velocity of shots and crispness of sets her new teammates on offense displayed during practice, which contributed to the coaching staff starting then-sophomore Maddie McSally (Glenelg) in the cage.
“I kind of envisioned going into the school in a certain way for four years, and then when I finally had the opportunity to come and be a student-athlete at the University of Maryland, my situation was a lot different than I had expected,” Sterling said.
“I expected myself to come back and be the player that I was before my injury, and that wasn’t the case.”
The coronavirus pandemic that canceled much of the 2020 season became an opportunity for Sterling to refine her skills and improve her conditioning. The work paid off when Sterling overtook McSally as the starting goalie for the 2021 campaign.
But Sterling labored to a 12.34 goalsagainst average and a .399 save percentage in 17 games, including 16 starts. The Terps’ season ended with a 13-12 loss to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament — the program’s earliest exit from the postseason since 2006.
Last summer, Sterling sought help from a familiar face. She joined former Maryland great and 2019 Tewaaraton Award winner Megan Taylor for a series of goaltending sessions throughout the Baltimore area seeking to train college and high school goalkeepers.
Taylor — a Glenelg resident and graduate who works for Goaliesmith, a business formed by Mike and Andrew Gvozden, former goalies at Johns Hopkins and Hofstra, respectively — said she avoided tinkering with Sterling’s mechanics or fundamentals.
“Being from Maryland, I just wanted to make sure she understood the confidence part,” said Taylor, also a former assistant coach at Navy. “When you’re playing at Maryland, you are meant to be there for a reason. You’re meant to make those saves, you are there because they know you play at that level. But as a player, it’s really hard to think that way. So I just wanted her to gain that aspect.”
Sterling, who met with Taylor twice a month during the summer, still keeps in touch with Taylor and credits her for boosting her morale. She also applauded the Terps coaches for refraining from holding goalkeepers to the standard that Taylor set.
But Sterling’s play this spring has been reminiscent of Taylor’s — even to opponents. Leubecker recalled a Michigan player’s incredulous reaction after Sterling turned back a scoring opportunity in the Terps’ 13-8 victory on April 30.
“It’s funny because I’ll be standing on the restraining line, and she’ll make a sick save, and my defender who normally doesn’t talk will say, ‘Oh my gosh, that was insane,’ ” Leubecker said. “They’re insane saves. Just crazy.”
Sterling and her defense will be tasked with limiting an Eagles offense that ranks third in the country in scoring at 17.1 goals per game and erupted for 20 goals in an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal May 19 against a Loyola Maryland unit that had allowed only 7.5 goals per game. But Taylor said Sterling looks more comfortable in the net.
“What she’s accomplishing on the field is amazing,” Taylor said. “At the end of the day, being a goalie is hard, and I get that. It’s a hard position to do, and she’s making it look easy, and it’s just really exciting and fun for the sport and the position to see.”
Perhaps the only time Sterling looks uncomfortable is when someone calls her the best goalie in the nation. She insisted she is simply doing what is asked of her.
“That’s my position back there,” she said. “My goal on the field is to have everybody’s back. I mess up sometimes, and our defense messes up sometimes. ... So when those little things do happen, it’s my turn to show them that I have their back as well.”