November 5, 1998

If her team's performance against other highly ranked opponents is any indication, University of Maryland defender Abby Bausman will see plenty of action Friday evening when the Terps take on number-one ranked North Carolina.

Maryland, ranked 15th in the national Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, has lost to five of the six teams ranked in the top 13 by ever increasing margins. The Terps fell to Clemson (number 13), 2-1, William & Mary (10), 2-0, Penn State (6), 3-0, and Florida (5), 7-2.

All of which means Bausman, who played center midfield for Dulaney High and forward for her club team, could be very busy when the Terps invade Chapel Hill.

Making her assignment even more impressive is the fact that Maryland (8-6-1) has never scored on the Tar Heels (15-0), winners of 15 of the past 17 national championships, including the past two.

Coach Anson Dorrance's powerhouse beat Maryland, 3-0 during the 1995 regular season and 3-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.

The next year, Bausman's sophomore year and first as a starter, the Tar Heels won, 5-0.

"Mentally, we went in already thinking we were going to lose," admitted the senior tri-captain.

"Last year, in the ACC Tournament, we felt we could win," she said despite a 4-0 loss in the regular season. "We were playing them great," she recalled. "Then they scored. We let down. We were playing so hard." The Heels went on to win the ACC title by a 4-0 count.

There is some cause for hope by Terp fans this season. Two weeks ago, Maryland tied then-unbeaten and Number four ranked Connecticut, 2-2, the first time in program history Maryland had not lost to a team ranked in the top five.

There is also this year's 3-2 overtime win over rival Virginia, the Terps' first victory over the Cavaliers. That it came against her old coach made the victory even sweeter for Bausman.

The 5-foot-4 defender, who also ran track at Dulaney, had not seen much playing time her freshman year under former head coach April Heinrichs. When the former North Carolina standout left to take the position at Virginia, long-time Southern Methodist University coach Alan Kirkup took over.

"For me it was a real positive transition," said Bausman, flashing her ready smile despite Sunday's disappointing 3-2 overtime loss to Florida State, the Seminoles first conference victory of the season.

"I don't think I had been looked at by April as a starter. When Alan came in, everybody had a clean chance," she said.

When classmate Tiffany Keyes tore her anterior cruciate ligament in the 11th game of the 1997 season, a win over Wake Forest, Bausman moved in. She has started ever since.

An All-ACC Tournament team selection least year, Bausman was named to Soccer America's team of the week recently for her efforts in Maryland's 1-0 win over James Madison (in which Bausman recorded her career-high third assist of the season), the overtime win over Virginia, and the 2-2 overtime time with Connecticut.

Last year's efforts against James Madison and Virginia both rank as career high points for the accounting major. She scored her first collegiate goal in the 2-0 win over the Dukes and had the only goal in a 2-1 loss to the Cavaliers.

Wednesday will mark her final regular season appearance on Ludwig Field in College Park.

"It seems like just yesterday we were freshman," she said. The memory of how she got to go home for Thanksgiving in 1995 since she wasn't part of the 18-player traveling squad that journeyed to Portland for the NCAA quarterfinals over the holiday is still fresh. So is the disappointing loss to Notre Dame the next year and last years stunning defeat to George Mason in the tournament.

This year, she and her six classmates hope to be part of the first senior class at Maryland to earn four NCAA Tournament berths. After Sunday's loss, a strong effort in North Carolina would keep that streak alive.