Women's Soccer Faces George Washington This Friday At 7 p.m.

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Sept. 17, 2001

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -

Maryland (3-1 overall) returns to action this Friday when the Terps host George Washington at 7 p.m. at Ludwig Field. The Terps had their two-game road trip to Colorado cancelled due to the national tragedies in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.

The games at Colorado scheduled for Sept. 14 and at Denver on Sept. 16 will not be made up.

The Terps will have had an 11-day layoff between games when they hit the field against the Colonials this Friday.

Maryland will continue its ACC schedule this Sunday as the Terps take on Wake Forest at 1 p.m. at Ludwig Field.

Loyola Game On Sept. 30 moved To 2:30 p.m.

The Maryland women's soccer game against Loyola on Sept. 30 has been moved from a 1 p.m. start to 2:30 p.m. to accommodate the Maryland men's soccer team, which rescheduled its game against Wake Forest to take place at noon.

Schedule Update: Alumni Day, Family Day, Senior Day Set

Head coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski has announced three important events on the upcoming soccer schedule.

Alumni Day has been set for Oct. 5, when the Terps take on North Carolina at 7 p.m. Maryland will honor its former greats, including a special ceremony to recognize the three former Terps in the WUSA, the professional women's soccer league. Michelle Demko (Philadelphia Charge), Emily Janss (New York Power) and Keri Sarver (Washington Freedom) will be honored at the game.

Family Day has been slated for Oct. 13, when Maryland faces Clemson on Saturday at 1 p.m. All of families of the Terps' players have been invited for the special weekend with the team.

Senior Day will take place at the Terps' regular-season home finale on Oct. 30 against Mount St. Mary's. Maryland will recognize and honor seniors Courtney Beirne (Westminster, Md.), Jenny Boyd (Herndon, Va.), Sara Gustafson (Reisterstown, Md.), Debbie Lieberman (Commack, N.Y.) and Ali Wolff (Richmond, Va.).

Coach Higgins-Cirovski Faces Former School, Top Player

For the third year in a row Maryland head coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski will coach against her former school, George Washington, when the Colonials come to College Park this Friday. Higgins-Cirovski she goes against the school she coached at for seven years (1991-97).

In 1999, Higgins-Cirovski coached her first game as Maryland's head coach against her old school and defeated the Colonials, 2-0 on Aug. 29, 1999.

Last season, the Terps blanked the Colonials, 3-0 on Sept. 12 as senior Julie Nelson scored her first and only career hat trick.

In addition to having coached at GW, the Colonials are now guided by the top player Higgins-Cirovski coached at the D.C. school, second-year head coach Tanya Vogel. Vogel was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year in 1996 as she and Higgins-Cirovski led the Colonials to the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. To make it even more intertwined, the Colonials faced Maryland in that NCAA Tournament game, a 2-0 Maryland win on Nov. 16, 1996 at Ludwig Field.

Higgins-Cirovski made her name as a college coach at George Washington, becoming the school's all-time leader in coaching wins with a 69-59-11 record. She was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1996.

It will also be a reunion of sorts for assistant coach Kerry Dziczkaniec, who faces her alma mater, where she holds many goalkeeping records.

The All-Time Series With GW

The Terps and Colonials have met 15 times overall and in every season since Maryland women's soccer first became a varsity sport in 1987. George Washington is one of three teams to have played Maryland every year since 1987, with the other two being North Carolina and Virginia.

Maryland leads the all-time series, 7-6-2, has not lost in the last seven meetings (6-0-1), dating to 1995. The Terps have won the last four games played in College Park.

In the only NCAA Tournament matchup between the teams, Maryland topped GW, 2-0 on Nov. 16, 1996 in the Colonials' first NCAA appearance.

Wolff Sets Maryland Career Shutouts Mark

Maryland senior goalkeeper Ali Wolff set the Maryland school record for career shutouts when she made one save as the Terps blanked East Carolina, 1-0 last Sunday, moving her career total to 14.5. Wolff broke the tie she had been in with former teammate Riki-Ann Serrins, who had 13.5 from 1997-2000.

The shutout was her third of the season and lowered her season goals against average to 0.25 through four games.

Wolff was named ACC Player of the Week (Aug. 31-Sept.3) after recording her first two shutouts of the season including a 2-0 upset over No. 17 Duke on Sept. 2, 2001.

She ranks in the top five in every one of Maryland's all-time goalkeeper stats. Shutouts First 14.5
GAA Fourth 1.70
Games Played Fourth 53
Saves Fifth 199
Games Started Third 48
Minutes Played Fourth 4,072

Biscoe Back In Action

The East Carolina game marked the return of sophomore Jen Biscoe (Batimore, Md.) who made her 2001 season debut after undergoing two surgeries to repair a torn ACL in her right knee. Biscoe played 18 minutes in her first college action in exactly a year after suffering the original tear on Sept. 9, 2000 at Richmond.

She is expected to draw more time as the season progresses.

The Rankings

Maryland is currently listed second among teams receiving votes in the NSCAA top 25 poll of Sept. 10. A new poll was not released for the week of Sept. 17 due to the lack of games from the national tragedies.

After not being ranked in any preseason polls, the Terps cracked three of the national women's soccer polls released Sept. 3, coming in at No. 14 in the NSCAA poll.

On Sept. 3, The Terps checked in at No. 14 in the NSCAA Coaches' poll, No. 16 in the College Soccer Online media poll and No. 25 in the Soccer Buzz.com poll.

After upsetting No. 17 Duke, 2-0, the Maryland women's soccer team jumped into the NSCAA Coaches' Poll at No. 14 after beginning the year unranked. That put the Terps are back in the NSCAA poll for the first time in nearly a year when they were No. 21 in mid-September of 2000.

The No. 14 ranking was the second highest for the Terps in the tenure of Shannon Higgins-Cirovski. Last season, Maryland was ranked No. 9 for a week after upsetting then-No. 4 Penn State on Aug. 29, 2000.

It also equaled Maryland's second highest ranking since the start of the 1998 season. The Terps were No. 14 for a week in the middle of October in 1998.

Maryland's win over a ranked team marked the 30th time in school history the Terps beat a team in the Top 25. Since 1995, the Terps have won 25 games against top 25 teams.

Media Information

WMUC Radio: Maryland's student radio station WMUC (88.1 FM) will broadcast up to 10 Maryland women's soccer games in 2001. A pregame show will air approximately 30 minutes prior to kickoff. WMUC's broadcasts can be heard live on the Internet at wmuc.umd.edu. Heather Schwartz will handle play-by-play.

Email Straight To You: If you would like the latest Maryland women's soccer news emailed directly to you as soon as it breaks, email women's soccer contact Jason Yellin at jyellin@wam.umd.edu with the message "Women's Soccer Email" as the subject and you will receive every update distributed about the team.

Mediateamlink.com: Releases, statistics and other sports information from all ACC schools as well as other conferences and institutions around the country are available by accessing www.mediateamlink.com. MediaTeamlink is FREE to all accredited media. Log on to www.mediateamlink.com if you do not already have an account, and click the "Sign Up Here" button and complete the short form.

Terrapin Fan Phone: For up-to-date reports, comments from coaches, and other Maryland athletic department information, phone the Terrapin Fan Phone at (301) 314-TERP.

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