August 21, 1998

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland's women's soccer team is ranked 13th in the nation in the preseason poll by Soccer America magazine. The Terps are looking to participate in their school-record fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament and have played in two of the last three Atlantic Coast Conference championship games.

Head coach Alan Kirkup, who is in his third season at Maryland, led the Terps to a 12-9-3 record in 1997. Maryland was the No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In 1995 and 1996, the Terps advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

The Terps return nine starters from last season's team including seniors Emmy Harbo and Keri Sarver. Harbo and Sarver are the highest scoring duo in the history of the program. Harbo is the school's all-time leading goal scorer with 44 career goals while Sarver is the all-time leader in total points with 106.

Soccer America Pre-Season Poll

 1. North Carolina
 2. Santa Clara	
 3. Notre Dame	
 4. Florida	
 5. Connecticut	
 6. Virginia	
 7. Clemson	
 8. William & Mary	
 9. Hartford	
10. Nebraska	
11. Texas A&M
12. Portland
13. MARYLAND
14. Duke
15. Harvard
16. Michigan
17. Georgia
18. UCLA
19. Brigham Young
20. Southern Methodist