Maryland Men's Soccer Hosts No. 16 Duke Sunday
9/23/2000 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 23, 2000
College Park, Md. - On Sunday, Maryland hosts No. 16 Duke at Ludwig Field for both teams' second conference clash of the year. The Terps dismantled NC State 5-0 on Sunday, Sept. 17 at Method Road and would be looking for their second ACC victory when the square-off against the Blue Devils. Duke defeated Clemson 3-2 in a match-up also held on Monday to begin its conference slate. Neither team played a mid-week game this past week. Duke was never scheduled to play a non-conference mid-weeker, and the Terps' Wednesday date with Loyola was postponed until October and moved to Ludwig Field.
The Maryland/Duke Series
Maryland leads Duke 36-14-3 in the series that began in 1949 with a 4-1 Terrapin victory in only the fourth year of the program's existence. The Terapins were shutout by the Blue Devils in their last match-up. Maryland lost 3-0 last season to Duke at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. Maryland is 6-2 against the Blue Devils under head coach Sasho Cirovski, with two of those victories coming in overtime.
Loyola Game Postponed
The University of Maryland men's soccer game vs. Loyola that was originally scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 20 has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. The regional contest, which was originally to be played at Goucher College in Towson, Md., but will now be held at Ludwig Field on the Maryland campus.
Wake Foreest Game Rescheduled
The University of Maryland men's soccer game vs. Wake Forest which was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30 has been rescheduled to Sunday, October 1 at 1 p.m, due to a football game being held on the Wake Forest campus on Saturday. The game will remain an away contest for the Terrapins, only the date has changed.
Head Coach Sasho Cirovski
Entering his eighth year at Maryland, head coach Sasho Cirovski has compiled a 93-53-14 (.625) record. A 1988 graduate of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cirovski owns a 119-65-14 (.646) through his first nine years of head coaching. Cirovski sits just seven wins away from the 100-win plateau at Maryland. Cirovski has 14 or more wins in each of his last six seasons.
Thompson and Vitagliano On the Scoring Drive
Freshmen Abe Thompson (Fairfax Station, Va.) and Bryan Vitagliano (Scotsdale, Ariz.) lead the Terps' offensive efforts right now. Both have two goals for the season through Maryland's first six games. Thompson scored one against South Florida on Sept. 3 and added two more in Maryland's 5-0 defeat of NC State on Sept. 17. Vitagliano also scored against NC State, netted one against Indiana on Sept. 8, and notched his first career goal when Maryland met Jacksonville at the Virginia Classic on Sept. 1.
Thompson Named Maryland Student-Athlete of the Week
Men's soccer player Abe Thompson (Fairfax, Va.) and field hockey's Caroline Walter (Reilingen, Germany) have both been named the Maryland Student-Athletes of the Week for their performances the week of Sept. 11-17.
Thompson paced the Terps in their first ACC win of the season, a 5-0 shutout over NC State. The freshman striker scored twice in the first half to put the game out of reach from the Wolfpack. Thompson leads the Terps statistically heading into the team's game on Wednesday at Loyola with seven points (three goals and one assist).
A junior, Walter lists third in each of the points (24), goals (10) and assists (4) categories and is tied for the lead with two game-winning scores. She has scored at least two points in all but one of the 2000 Terrapins' seven matches. Walter scored four goals to help the Terps over Towson 7-1 last week. She also scored one of the two goals to help the Terps to a 2-0 victory over No. 12 UMASS and the seventh-rated defense in the nation. The Terps take on Wake Forest on Saturday, Sept. 23 in the team's next contest.
Freshman Grades Are Coming In
With the injuries to key performers like Scott Buete (Bowie, Md.), A.J. Herrera (Albuquerque, N.M.), Sumed Ibrahim (Tamale, Ghana) and Siba Mohammed (Tamale, Ghana), the Terps have had to turn elsewhere to produce the scoring they need to win games. That means that Maryland's freshman have had to come of age that much faster. Four out of eight Terrapins who have scored goals this season are freshman (Clarence Goodson, Abe Thompson, Seth Stammler and Bryan Vitagliano)- that's 50 percent. Of the 13 goals scored for the Terps this season, nine have been converted by players who haven't even received their first-quarter grades yet. Nine of 13 gives the freshman almost 70 percent of the Terrapins' goal-scoring punch. Don't think the upperclassmen are just standing around watching them, though. Thirteen of Maryland's 17 assists have been dealt by upperclassmen. Co-captains Nick Downing and Beckett Hollenbach lead the way in that category with three and four assists, respectively.
UM's High-Powered Schedule
No. 16 Duke comes to town on Sunday for an ACC showdown the whole conference will have its eye on. After that, the Terrapins will have to defend their home turf again against American on Sept. 27 and travel to Wake Forest on Sept. 30. Other ranked teams on Maryland's schedule include No. 13 North Carolina at Ludwig Field on Oct. 7, and No. 20 Virginia Commonwealth and No. 8 Virginia, both on the road.
Califf and the US Men Head to Medal Round for First Time Ever
After a 5-4 penalty kick win over Japan in the quarterfinals of the 2000 Olympics, Maryland alum Dan Califf and the U.S men's team are advancing to the semifinals of the Olympic tournament for the first time ever. The team will travel to Sydney where the squad will join the rest of the athletes in the Olympic Village for the first time, after spending the opening rounds in Adelaide, Australia. The United States will meet Spain in the next round for the right to advance to the Gold Medal game.
