Maryland/FILA Classic Showcases Four Top Men's Soccer Programs This Weekend
9/5/2002 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 5, 2002
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GAMES 3 & 4: Maryland/FILA ClassicFriday, Sept. 6
No. 3 Virginia vs. VCU ~ 5 p.m. Terps vs. Penn State ~ 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 8 No. 3 Virginia vs. Penn State ~ Noon No. 10 Terps vs. VCU ~ 2:30 p.m. at Ludwig Field (4,000), College Park, Md.
Maryland's Next Game:Wed., Sept. 11: Terps vs. No. 13 Loyola ~ 7:00 p.m. at Ludwig Field (4,000), College Park, Md.
The Maryland/FILA Classic begins on Sept. 6 with No. 3 Virginia (2-0) making the trip to meet Virginia Commonwealth (2-0) at 5 p.m. The Terps (1-1) meet Penn State (1-1) for the nightcap at 7:30 p.m. on Ludwig Field to round out the opening night of tournament action on Friday. Virginia then takes on the Nittany Lions on Sunday at noon with Maryland hosting VCU at 2:30 p.m. to end the third annual tournament.
Looking at the Tournament Field
Maryland started the season with an 8-0 blanking of Rhode Island in the Virginia Soccer Classic before dropping a 2-1 loss to No. 20 Kentucky to give the Terps a 1-1 record heading into this weekend.
Penn State also is 1-1 after suffering a season-opening loss to Richmond at the Scarlet and Gray Classic at Ohio State, 2-1 in overtime. The Nittany Lions then evened their season record with a 2-1 win over East Carolina.
Virginia Commonwealth, 2-0 after winning the Nike/ALLTEL Soccer Classic, notched wins over Hartwick (4-0) and Syracuse (1-0).
Virginia is also 2-0 after winning its tournament last weekend with wins over No. 20 Kentucky (2-1) and Rhode Island (2-1) in the Virginia Soccer Classic.
All-Time vs. Penn State and Virginia Commonwealth
The Terrapins hold a 14-17-1 record all-time against Penn State, with the two team's last meeting a 2-0 Maryland win in the opening round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament. That game was also played at Ludwig Field. Previous to the meeting in 1995, the Terps and Lions hadn't tangled since the 1981 regular season, when Maryland beat Penn State again 2-0 this time on Jeffrey Field in University Park. The Terps' first meeting with Penn State was in 1948, a 0-1 loss to the Nittany Lions.
In a significantly newer series for Maryland, the Terps hold a 3-1-0 record all-time against Virginia Commonwealth. The series dates back to 1982, when Maryland beat the Rams 2-1. A member of the South Atlantic Region with the Terps, Maryland defeated VCU 1-0 at Ludwig Field in 2001 and has won the last two games of the series. The last Terp loss was in 1999, a 2-1 defeat in College Park.
Maryland/FILA Classic History
The Terps enter the third annual Maryland/FILA Classic with a 1-3 record over the past two years. Indiana won the inaugural Maryland/FILA Classic in 2000, going undefeated with wins over Maryland (2-1, ot) and South Carolina (1-0). Virginia won last year's tournament with an unblemished record, beating American (4-2) and Creighton (3-2). In addition to the host Terrapins, Virginia has been a part of every Maryland/FILA Tournament since it began in 2000.
All-Time Maryland/FILA Tournament Results Date Match-up ResultAll-Time at the Maryland/FILA Classic2000 S8 South Carolina v. Virginia USC 2, UVA 1 Indiana v. Maryland IU 2, UM 1 ot
S10 Indiana v. Virginia IU 2, UVA 1 South Carolina v. Maryland USC 1, UM 0
2001 S7 American v. Virginia UVA 4, AU 2 Creighton v. Maryland CU 3, UM 2 S9 Creighton v. Virginia UVA 3, CU 2 American v. Maryland UM 5, AU 1
The Terrapins are 1-3 in the Maryland/FILA Classic with their lone win coming over American in the final game of last year's tournament, 5-1.
Several returning Terrapins have put points on the board in the previous two Maryland/FILA Classics. Sumed Ibrahim (Tamale, Ghana) leads with three goals and an assist, all in the Terps 5-1 win against American last year. His offensive outburst earned him Maryland/FILA all-tournament recognition.
Junior Bryan Vitagliano (Scottsdale, Ariz.) is the only other Terrapin who has earned all-tournament honors at the Maryland/FILA Classic. Vitagliano earned the accolade for scoring the Terps' lone goal vs. Indiana his freshman year.
Other Terrapins with Maryland/FILA Classic scoring pasts include one goal and one assist from A.J. Herrera (Albuquerque, N.M.), one goal from Seth Stammler (Gahanna, Ohio), two assists from both Scott Buete (Bowie, Md.) and Abe Thompson (Fairfax Station, Va.), and one assist apiece for Michael Dello-Russo (Columbia, Md.) and Siba Mohammed (Tamale, Ghana).
Cirovski Celebrates 10th Anniversary
The 2002 season marks the 10th year that head coach Sasho Cirovski has guided the Terrapin men's soccer program. The Terps' bench boss has piloted the program to a 112-71-9 record during his 10 years in College Park. Cirovski, a 1986 graduate of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is entering his 12th year overall and has a 138-83-15 career record.
Under Cirovski, the Terrapins have over 100 wins, a 1998 appearance in the national semifinals, and eight NCAA appearances. Maryland won the 1996 ACC Championship and has had numerous Terrapins sign professional contracts in the United States and abroad.
Super Sumed
The Terps' leading scorer last season, Sumed Ibrahim, started the 2002 season with a bang at the Virginia Soccer Classic. A 2001 first team All-ACC pick, Sumed scored seven points in the first half of the Rhode Island game off two goals and three assists, a single-game record at the Virginia Soccer Classic. His performance helped lift the Terps to a 8-0 victory and grabbed Sumed all-tournament honors.
No Seniors? No Problem!
With no seniors to be found, the Terrapin lineup may look inexperienced, but looks can be deceiving. Fact is, four Terrapins were on the roster in 1999 when the team earned its first-ever No. 1 ranking from Soccer America.
In addition, eight Terps have been with Maryland for at least three years, six of which have had to take a medical redshirt for a year.
Sophomore goalkeeper? Also not a problem. Fact: starting netminder Noah Palmer (Williamsburg, Va.) was in the hotspot last season for 17 games, finishing with an 11-7-1 record.
Pensky and Former Cav Causey Join Terps
There are two new faces on the Terrapin sideline this season in Brian Pensky and Jeff Causey. Pensky was most recently at Loyola, where he was an assistant coach for the Greyhounds' women's soccer team. Pensky also served a stint at George Washington as an assistant and brings a wealth of club and ODP coaching from both the men's and women's side.
A Virginia graduate, Causey was on 1996 MLS Champions DC United, and most recently played for the New England Revolution. At UVa, Causey earned third-team All-American accolades in goal in 1993, the same year the Cavaliers won their third NCAA and ACC championship in a row. Causey still holds several of Virginia's goalkeeping records including the single-season record for saves (88 saves in 1990) and the career records for saves (249), shutouts (27), minutes played (7,050) and games played (77).
The duo replaces Sasho Cirovski's longtime assistant coach Jeff Rohrman, who left in the spring to take a head coaching job at Wisconsin.
Terrapin Tri-Captains
Three Terps take over the role of captain this year: Scott Buete, Seth Stammler, and Abe Thompson. Buete, a redshirt-junior, has started 39 of the 40 games he has played for Maryland and has five goals and 13 assists. The Bowie, Md., native has played everywhere from striker to attacking midfielder to a defensive midfield position in his four years as a Terp and redshirted his sophomore year after breaking a bone in his foot.
Stammler, no stranger to position changes himself, has transitioned from being a striker to a marking back last year and now has taken the reigns of the central defense with the departure of All-American Beckett Hollenbach (1998-2001). A junior from Gahanna, Ohio, he has seven career goals and four assists in 28 starts and 38 appearances. He started every game last season for Maryland.
Thompson is the youngest captain, only a sophomore in eligibility, but has still been with the Terps for three years. The striker from nearby Fairfax, Va., was the Terps leading scorer in 2000 with 31 points off 13 goals and 5 assists in 19 starts before redshirting the 2001 season with a broken foot.
Leading Scorers Return to Terp Lineup
Maryland returns it's leading scorers from the past two years in Sumed Ibrahim and Abe Thompson. This is the first year the duo will hit the field together, as injuries have kept at least half of the potent Terps' attack on the sidelines for the past two years. In 2000, it was Sumed Ibrahim who took a medical redshirt because of a fracture in his foot. That year, Thompson exploded onto the scene his freshman year, scoring 13 goals and adding five assists. His 31 points tied him for 10th on the Terps' single-season points list.
The 2001 season saw Thompson relegated to the sidelines due to a break in his right foot. Sumed took over and tallied 13 assists, which marks the third-best single season assist total in school history. The speedy midfielder also added nine goals for a 31-point season, tying him with Thompson at the 10-spot on the single season charts.
Lancos with the U.S. Under-20s
Maryland fans were delayed in seeing freshman Chris Lancos' (Middletown, N.J.) debut in the red, black, gold and white because the high school All-American was representing the Stars and Stripes for the U.S. Under-20 team in Spain.
The U.S.Under-20s ended at 3-2 in the XIX C.O.T.I.F. Torneig Internacional being held in L'Alcudia, Spain, and lost to Brazil 1-0 in the finals. The team beat Spain 2-1 on Aug. 26 and Ukraine, 5-2, on Aug. 27. That game, Lancos received the starting nod for the U.S. The U.S. started tournament action with a loss to Brazil, 2-1, on Aug. 24, who they would eventually lose to in the finals.
In semifinal action on Aug. 28, the U.S. team beat Uraguay 3-1 to advance to the finals where they lost to Brazil.
The U.S. team is 4-3-2 in international tournaments in 2002. The XIX C.O.T.I.F. Torneig Internacional is the team's final international tournament before the World Youth Championships at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, S.C., which will be held from November 13-17. The top four teams from that tournament will advance to the World Youth Championships, which will be held in United Arab Emirates from March 25-April 16, 2003.
Lancos joined the Terps on Aug. 30 in Charlottesville after the team's game with Rhode Island and started against Kentucky on the Terps' backline.
