After guiding the Terps to a 12th national championship last weekend, Maryland sophomore midfielder Taylor Cummings captured the 2014 Tewaaraton Award on a historical night Thursday at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Cummings became Maryland’s fifth overall winner and its fourth in the last five seasons after compiling a tremendous sophomore campaign for the Terps. The Ellicott City, Md., product led Maryland with 63 goals, 128 draw controls, 37 ground balls and 30 caused turnovers and ranked second on the Terps fourth-ranked scoring offense with 24 assists and 87 points.
Cummings, who is also a U.S. Women’s National Team member, is a two-time IWLCA First Team All-American and earned All-ACC honors for a second time. She was tabbed to the ACC All-Tournament Team as Maryland captured its sixth consecutive conference title. Cummings was named NCAA Championship Most Valuable Player after a pair of superior performances in Maryland victories against Northwestern and Syracuse in the Final Four.
Cummings joins Jen Adams (2001), Caitlyn McFadden (2010) and Katie Schwarzmann (2012-2013) as Terrapins to win the nation’s top collegiate individual honor. She is the first female sophomore to ever win the Tewaaraton. Syracuse’s Mike Powell was the only other sophomore winner, taking the first of his two Tewaaraton awards in 1992.
Native American brothers Miles and Lyle Thompson, the University of Albany stars who each broke the Division I lacrosse record for most points in a season, were co-winners of the Tewaaraton Award on the men’s side. They became the first Native Americans to win the coveted Tewaaraton trophy, which derives from the Mohawk name for the game and the progenitor of present day lacrosse.
