Terps Look To Get Back In Win Column On Monday At James Madison
10/28/2002 7:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 28, 2002
Complete Release with Stats and Player Profiles in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
MARYLAND (10-6-0) at JAMES MADISON (8-6-3)
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2002 * 7:00 p.m.
JMU SOCCER FIELD (1,860/Grass), HARRISONBURG, VA.
Terps Look To Get Back On Track At Regional Foe JMU On Monday
* Maryland plays its final regular-season non-conference game on Monday night as the Terps travel to James Madison for a meeting with the 8-6-3 Dukes. The Terps stand at 10-6-0 and 3-3 in the ACC after a tough 1-0 loss to Florida State on Senior Night last Friday.
* The Terps will play their final regular-season game of the season on Friday night at No. 2 North Carolina in a ACC match will have major implications on the ACC Tournament seedings. Maryland is currently in fourth place in the league with wins over Duke, Virginia and Clemson. Nothing is assured in the league as of this point, Maryland could finish as first with some help from other teams and could also fall as low as No. 7 with some circumstances.
* The Terps rose to No. 22 in the NSCAA Coaches' poll, their highest ranking of the season for last Monday's poll on Oct. 21, after a sensational 3-2 victory at Clemson on Sunday, Oct. 20. Jenny Biscoe (Baltimore, Md.) headed home a rebound shot from Katie Ludwig (Mount Laurel, N.J.) with 6:33 left in regulation to give Maryland its first-ever win at Clemson. The victory clinched the Terps' 10th win of the year, equalling last year's mark, when the team went 10-7-2 and reached the NCAA Women's College Cup for the sixth time in seven years.
* The Terps 10-6 mark through 16 games, is the program's best record at that point since the 1996 season, when the team got off to a 15-0-1 start. Also, in winning their 10th game on Oct. 20, the Terps have reached the 10-win plateau earlier than any season since that 1996 campaign, when they won their 15th on Oct. 13.
* The Terps were ranked in the top 25 in three of the four major polls for the first time this season last week. Along with the No. 22 mark from the NSCAA, the Terps are No. 16 in the Soccer America poll and No. 25 in the Soccer Times poll. Previously, Maryland has been No. 25 in the NSCAA poll for the week of Sept. 9 and No. 23 for the week of Sept. 30.
The Series With James Madison
* The Terps and Dukes have met 13 previous times, dating to 1990 with Maryland holding an 8-4-1 series advantage. The Terps have won six of the last eight games, and the last four at Harrisonburg.
* Last season the teams plays to a scoreless tie at Ludwig Field on Oct. 17, 2001.
* In the last game at JMU, Sara Gustafson scored two goals in the 2-1 victory at Harrisonburg Va. on Oct. 17, 2000.
* They have also met once in the NCAA Tournament, with the Terps winning 6-1 on Nov. 18, 1995. That game was Maryland's first ever NCAA game.
Maryland kicks offense into high gear
* Maryland's offense has continued its high-scoring pace this season with 36 goals in 16 matches for a 2.25 goals per game average. That total is 12 more than the entire season total for all of 2001, when the Terps tallied 24 goals in 19 games (1.26 per game). Maryland surpassed that 24-goal mark in the ninth game of this season in the 3-2 win over Duke on Sept. 27.
* The Terps' 36 goals this season are the most since Shannon Higgins-Cirovski took over as coach and the most since 1998 when they scored 55.
* The attack has been led by Audra Poulin (Silver Spring, Md.), Ali Andrzejewski (Lutherville, Md.) and Katie Ludwig.
* Poulin has been on a torrid stretch of late, scoring four goals in the last four games. She now leads the team with a career-high eight goals and tops the Terps in points with 19. She posted her first multi-goal game against George Mason on Oct. 16, with two goals in the first 16 minutes. Poulin came into the season with just three goals in her first two seasons.
* Poulin was named to the Soccer America and Soccer Buzz Teams of the Week for her performances last week.
* The freshman sensation, Andrzejewski is second on the club with seven goals after she netted the final tally against George Mason on Oct. 16. She has 16 points on the season having added a pair of assists.
* Ludwig was the difference in the Terps' win at Clemson as she assisted the game-winning goal and scored the game-tying goal, both on great individual efforts. She now has 16 points to tie for second on the team in scoring with six goals and four assists, all of which are career highs.
* For Poulin and Ludwig, the goal totals are more than each player had scored in all of last season. Ludwig had two goals in 2001, although she did play most of the year on defense and Poulin had three goals last season -- the first three of her career.
* The assists have also been coming at a fast rate with all of the goals. Junior Jenny Biscoe and freshman Kimmy Francis (Richboro, Pa.) lead the team with six assists in 16 games as each picked up a helper in the win over George Mason. For Biscoe, the six assists her total for all of last season. Earlier this season, she tied a school-record with a three-assist performance at Rutgers on Sept. 6. Biscoe scored her first goal of the season notching the game-winner at Clemson (10/20). Francis has handed out six helpers, including the corner kick that led to the team's lone goal in the 1-0 win over William & Mary on Sept. 29. She also scored her first collegiate goal vs. George Washington.
* Senior Kim King (Media, Pa.) has been an important cog off the bench as she has three goals and two assists for eight points this season. She notched the game-winning goal on a penalty kick in the win over Duke, scoring in the 66th minute and the game-winner in the 43rd minute against Virginia on Oct. 11.
* Freshman Simone Dekker (Ringwood, N.J.) has been a great addition, as the speedy forward has played in all 16 games and posted four goals and three assists for 11 points.
* Senior Dana Jarzyniecki (Rochester, N.Y.) continues to provide stability in the midfield in her fourth year. She has played in all 76 games since she came in College Park in 1999 and ranks tied for 11th in career assists with 11.
On the Defensive Side
* Junior goalkeeper Kristen Barnhill (Charlottesville, Va.) has been strong in the net since she has been given the starting role for the last four games. She posted a pair of shutouts over Virginia and George Mason in her first two collegiate starts. Those shutouts marked the first time in eight years that a Maryland keeper had shutouts in her first two starts. In September of 1995, freshman Kassie Knecht shut out William & Mary and Old Dominion in back-to -back games making three saves in each of her first two college starts. Barnhill posted a career-high seven saves in the big ACC win at Clemson on Oct. 20. She came up big in her first two major playing opportunities this season. First, she showed her worth when she came on in the 33rd minute against Duke, when Wilner was injured, and made five saves in preserving the Terps' critical ACC win for her first collegiate victory. On Oct. 11, Barnhill drew her first start after Wilner was issued a red card at Penn State and was forced to sit out the Virginia, and Barnhill made three saves in posting her first solo shutout. She followed that up with two saves vs. the Patriots.
* The Terps' defense has been strong as well with freshman goalkeeper Mariel Wilner (Owings Mills, Md.) in the net for the first 12 starts of the season. Wilner has a 1.65 goals against average and a .638 save percentage in her first collegiate season. Wilner picked up her first collegiate solo shutout with five saves against William & Mary.
* Aiding the keepers on the backline is junior All-ACC selection Lindsay Givens (Downingtown, Pa.) along with junior Katie Kruse (Chagrin Falls, Ohio), sophomore Lindsay Niehaus (Cincinnati, Ohio) and freshmen Mallory Mahar (Medina, Ohio) and Kristin McHugh (Gaithersburg, Md.). Mahar, who has also moved up to midfield in the last few games, has been a force on set pieces recording three goals all on headers off corner kicks this season including the game-winner vs. William & Mary. Jennifer Lovecchio (Vineland, N.J.) got back into action against Mason, playing 27 minutes after sitting out two games with a mild concussion.
Higgins-Cirovski Inducted Into Hall Of Fame
* The ranks of the National Soccer Hall of Fame formally grew by three with induction ceremonies on Monday, October 14. Maryland head coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski, a midfielder for the United States team which won the first women's world championships as well as four University of North Carolina NCAA championship teams was joined by Adolph Bachmeier, a defender and defensive midfielder from the 1950s and 1960s; Vladislav (Bogie) Bogicevic, a star midfielder for the North American Soccer League Cosmos from 1978-84 as the class of 2002.
* Higgins-Cirovski, who starred collegiately at the University of North Carolina is just the third women to enter the Hall as a player (joining April Heinrichs and Carin Jennings-Gabarra) and is the youngest person to enter the hall at just 34 years old.
* "This really puts what being a pioneer is, into perspective," said Higgins-Cirovski. "It is truly an amazing honor, obviously as you move past your playing days and reflect on them, they seem to move further away. It is so nice of the committee to recognize my accomplishments. To think of all of the players that I watched, such as Bogicevic and other Hall of Famers ... to be joining them is such an honor."
* Higgins-Cirovski had a star-studded career at North Carolina. She helped the Tar Heels to four national championships (1986, '87, '88, and '89), scoring the game-winning goal in the final three titles. She posted an 89-0-6 record as a collegian and was named a two-time first team All-American in 1988 and '89. She was named national Player of the Year by Soccer America in 1988 and named consensus national player of the year in 1989. At the conclusion of her career at UNC, the playmaking midfielder had tallied 39 goals and 51 assists for 129 points in 94 matches.
* She was the second-ever female recipient of the prestigious Hermann Trophy Award as the nation's top Division I women's soccer player in 1989 and also captured the Honda Award as the top female athlete in the nation after that season. She was honored with the first-ever Mary Garber Award given to the ACC's top female athlete. She is one of nine women's soccer players to have her number (No. 3) retired at North Carolina. She graduated from Chapel Hill in 1990.
* Higgins-Cirovski played for the United States national team from 1987-91, as she helped the squad to the 1991 Women's World Cup title in China. Her free kick set up the first goal in the 2-1 championship victory over Norway in the '91 final. She retired from international play with 51 caps, second most of any player at that time.
* She was named to Soccer America's Team of the Century, as one of the top 11 players to have impacted women's soccer in the 20th century. She was also honored as one of the ACC's best players at the league's celebration in 1999.
* Higgins-Cirovski entered the coaching ranks in 1991 at George Washington University and led the Colonials for seven seasons. She led them to their only NCAA Tournament bid in 1996. She was named Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year in 1994. After coaching the United States U-18 team for a season, Higgins-Cirovski was hired as Maryland's women's head coach on Jan. 13, 1999. She joined her husband, Sasho, on the Maryland athletic staff, who has been the men's soccer coach since 1993.
Terps Moving Up Assist Chart
* Three Terps are moving up the Maryland career assist chart. Lindsay Givens is tied for seventh all-time with 13 assists after picking up her second of the 2002 season on a corner kick that led to Ali Andrzejewski's goal vs. George Mason.
* Dana Jarzyniecki (Rochester, N.Y.) has 11 in her career to stand tied for 11th all-time at Maryland. She added her 11th assist against George Washington on Sept. 22.
* With her fast start this season Jenny Biscoe now has 11 career assists and is closing in on the top 10. Biscoe tied the school record for assists in a game with three at Rutgers. Jarzyniecki set the record originally vs. Howard on Oct. 11, 2000. Biscoe picked up her sixth assist in the win over George Mason.
Media Information
* 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.
The Shannon Higgins-Cirovski Show
* WMUCSports.com will air the Shannon Higgins-Cirovski show every other Thursday at 7 p.m. The show will air again this Thursday at 7 p.m. The first show ran on Sept. 12 with Higgins-Cirovski joined by junior Katie Ludwig. Senior Sarah McClellan was the guest on the second show which ran on Sept. 26. The third show ran on Oct. 9 with guest Lindsay Givens. The last show featured Soccer America an Soccer Buzz Team o f the Week player Audra Poulin on Oct. 23. The shows are available on umterps.com and WMUCSports.com with hosts Josh Maurer , Josh Madden and Ariel Agami.
