May 21, 2003

Media Day Photo Gallery (5/23)

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2003 NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE SEMIFINALS
No. 3 MARYLAND (12-3) vs. No. 2 VIRGINIA (13-2)
SATURDAY, MAY 24, 2003 * apprpx. 2:15p.m. ET
M&T BANK STADIUM (69,300/Grass, BALTIMORE, Md.
TV: ESPN2 * Audio: WMUC (88.1 FM), WMUCSports.com
Tickets: 410-261-RAVE or www.ticketmaster.com

ACC Clash In NCAA Semis As No. 3 Terps Battle No. 2 Virginia

* The No. 3 seeded Maryland men's lacrosse returns to the NCAA Tournament Semifinals for the first time since 1998, as the Terps will take on No. 2 Virginia this Saturday, May 24 in the second game of the national semifinal doubleheader at M&T Bank Stadium (formerly Ravens Stadium) in Baltimore. The first game of the day, No. 1 Johns Hopkins against No. 6 Syracuse will face-off at 11:30 a.m. with the Maryland/Virginia game to follow at approximately 2:15 p.m. Both games will be nationally televised live on ESPN2 with Leif Elsmo (play-by-play), Quint Kessenich (color commentary) and Joe Beninati (sidelines/studio) calling the game. The game will also air live on the radio at 88.1 FM (WMUC) in the College Park area and be available on WMUCSports.com. The title game pitting Saturday's winners will be played on Memorial Day Monday, May 26 at 11 a.m. and be televised on ESPN.

* The Terps (12-3 overall) are making their 26th NCAA Tournament appearance, the third most of any school in NCAA history. Maryland advanced to the lacrosse final four for the 17th time (third only to Johns Hopkins and Syracuse) with a solid 13-7 victory over No. 5 Massachusetts last Saturday at Syracuse's Carrier Dome. Maryland has won the national championship twice (1973 and 1975), but is chasing its first crown in 28 years. The Terps have reached the national championship game a total of nine times, including three in a four-year span (1995, 1997 and 1998) in the late 90s.

* Virginia (13-2 overall) is in its 27th NCAA Tournament and its 16th all-time national semifinal. The Cavaliers return to the semifinals for the second year in a row, having lost to eventual 2002 champion Syracuse 12-11 in double overtime last season. Virginia has won the national title twice (1972 and 1999). They have played in the title game on four other occasions (1980, 1986, 1994, and 1996).

* This game marks the first time Maryland and Virginia will play in an NCAA Semifinal and third-ever in the NCAA playoffs (the other three came in quarterfinal games). It is also just the third time that two ACC schools have played in the national semifinals. Virginia beat North Carolina in the 1980 semifinals, 11-10, while the Tar Heels returned the favor with a 10-9 OT national semifinal win in 1986. ACC teams have never matched up for the national championship.

No. 3 Maryland 2003 Record: 12-3 (2-1 ACC) 2002 Record: 9-4 (1-2 ACC) 2003 Ranks: 3rd (USILA), 3rd (Media), 3rd (Sun/WMAR) Head Coach: Dave Cottle (Salisbury '78) Coach's Record: 202-77 (.724)/21st season Coach's Record at UM: 21-7 (.750)/2nd season Ass't Coach: Dave Slafkosky (Johns Hopkins '74) Ass't Coach: Paul Cantabene (Loyola '93) Ass't Coach: Steve Gorski (UMBC '96) Leading Scorer (G-A=P): Joe Walters (33-13=46) No. 2 Virginia 2003 Record: 13-2 (2-1 ACC) 2002 Record: 11-4 (3-0 ACC) 2003 Ranks: 2nd (USILA), 2nd (Media) 2nd (Sun/WMAR) Head Coach: Dom Starsia (Brown '74) Coach's Record: 224-88 (.718)/21st season Coach's Record at UVa: 123-42 (.745)/11th season Ass't Coach: Marc Van Arsdale (Hobart '85) Ass't. Coach: David Curry (Virginia '97) Leading Scorer (G-A=P): John Christmas (34-11=45)

* Long-time ACC rivals, Maryland defeated then-No. 2 Virginia, 8-7 in the teams' regular-season meeting back on March 29 in Charlottesville, Va. It was the Terps' first regular-season win at Virginia since 1989, although the Terps did beat the Cavaliers in the 1998 ACC Championship game at Klockner Stadium. In the win this season, the Terps defense shutdown Virginia's high-scoring offense, holding the Wahoos scoreless for 33:06 bridging the first through third quarters. Goalie Danny McCormick (McLean, Va.) was stellar in goal making 15 saves including a point-blank shot by Virginia's leading scorer John Christmas in the final minute. Maryland built a lead as large at 6-2 at halftime. ACC Rookie of the Year Joe Walters (Rochester, N.Y.) led the Terps' attack with three goals and an assist while Mike Mollot (Holbrook, N.Y.) added two goals.

The Maryland-Virginia Rivalry
* The Maryland-Virginia rivalry is the third-longest in Terrapin lacrosse history with Maryland holding a 40-30 advantage, dating to the first game -- a Terps' 10-1 victory on April 24, 1926. The 40 wins are the third-highest number of victories Maryland has against any team. The Terps have defeated Duke 50 times and Navy 47 times.

* The rivals have met twice every year for six years in a row from 1996 to 2001 before the streak ended last season, as they did not play in the ACC Tournament. Virginia won last season's only meeting 11-10 at Byrd Stadium on March 30, 2001, as John Christmas scored four goals for the Cavs in the win.

* Maryland has won all three meetings in the NCAA Tournament. The Terps topped the Cavaliers in a pair of first round games in 1978 and 1983 and won a 1997 quarterfinal game, 10-9 played at Byrd Stadium. In that last NCAA meeting, All-Americans Andrew Whipple and Frank Radin each scored twice as the Terps outshot Virginia 64-27.

* The Terps captured their first and only ACC Tournament championship defeating Virginia, 14-11 in Charlottesville on April 19, 1998, the same year Maryland won its last regular-season title with a win over Virginia, 14-9 on March 28.

* During the 1990s, Virginia won nine of the 16 meetings. Half of those games were decided by one goal with each team winning four of the cliff-hangers.

How Terps Got To the NCAA Semifinals
* The Terps advanced to the NCAA Semifinals with a 13-7 win over No. 5 UMass in the NCAA Quarterfinals and an 8-5 victory over No. 17 Ohio State in the NCAA First Round at Byrd Stadium. Maryland is now 34-23 (59.6%) all-time in NCAA tournament games.

* In the Quarterfinal win over UMass, All-American and Tewaaraton Trophy candidate Mike Mollot had one his finest days as he posted a season-high four goals and added an assist in the win. His behind-the-back goal sealed the win in the fourth-quarter. Three other Terps scored two goals: Matt Brock (Manakin-Sabot, Va.), Brian Hunt (West Chester, Pa.) and Ryan Moran (Setauket, N.Y.). ACC Rookie of the Year Joe Walters scored his team-high 33rd goal of the year and added three assists for the Terps. Maryland outscored the Minutemen 8-3 over the middle two quarters to build an insurmountable 10-5 lead at the end of three quarters.

* Goalie Danny McCormick was sensational in goal again, as he made 15 saves keeping UMass at bay. The Terps' defensive quartet of Michael Howley (Wantagh, N.Y.), Chris Passavia (Stony Brook, N.Y.), Lee Zink (Rowayton, Conn.) and Brett Harper (Columbus, Ohio) shut down UMass' top two scorers blanking Jeff Zywicki and Kevin Leveille in the point column. Leading scorer Zywicki (41 goals/ 62 points) was shutout by Zink, marking the fourth straight game Zink held his man scoreless. The Minutemen's second-leading scorer Kevin Leveille was also blanked by Passavia.

* In its First Round win, Maryland received well-balanced scoring -- some from unlikely sources in the win over the Buckeyes. Senior captain Mike Mollot led the way with two goals and an assist and ACC Rookie of the Year Joe Walters scored his team-high 32nd goal in the win. To show the Terps' balance, all four members of the Terps' second midfield scored. Sean Leary (Troy, Mich.), Matt Brock and Willy Passavia (Stony Brook, N.Y.) scored the game's first three goals and Jamie Daue (Lutherville, Md.) notched his fourth goal of the season after Mollot's first tally in the game.

* The Terps' defense continued to be stellar holding Ohio State to a season-low five goals. Maryland has held each of its last four opponents to seven goals or fewer as senior goalie Danny McCormick (McLean, Va.) has a 5.28 goals against average in the last three games. Junior defenseman Lee Zink (Rowayton, Conn.) held the nation's fifth-leading scorer Curtis Smith without a point. That marked the third straight game, Zink has shutout his man. Fellow All-American defenders Michael Howley (Wantagh, N.Y.) and Chris Passavia (Stony Brook, N.Y.) have dominated in helping Maryland to force 101 turnovers over the last four games (25.3 to/pg).

Fast Facts About The Terps
* The Terps have the nation's third-team goals against average and best of any team in the tournament, allowing just 6.79 goals per game (102 in 15 games). Last season the Terps tied with Cornell for the No. 1 scoring defense allowing just 7.00 goals per game. Virginia comes into the game with the nation's fourth-highest scoring offense at 12.27 goals per game, which should make for some interesting match-ups.

* Over its current five-game winning streak the Terps have outscored its opponents 55-29 including holding No. 5 Georgetown to just five goals, No. 18 Notre Dame to just a season-low four goals and the nation's third-highest scoring team No. 5 UMass, to a season-low seven goals.

* The win over Notre Dame gave the Terps their 10th win of the season marking the 20th time in the 78 year history of Maryland men's lacrosse, that the Terps have won at least 10 games in a season. Overall, Maryland has a 637-204-4 (75.7 win percentage) record in lacrosse without having ever posted a losing record in a season, ever.

* The Terps' 12 wins this season, mark just the fifth time in school history they have reached a dozen victories in a year. The record of 14, set in 1998, can be equaled if the Terps win the national championship.

* The win over Notre Dame gave head coach Dave Cottle has 200th career win. Cottle has a 21-7 (75.0 win percentage) record at Maryland in two seasons after he went 181-70 in 19 years at Loyola from 1983-2001. He is currently third on the active career win percentage list, winning 72.4 percent of his games and ranks tied for eighth among all active coaches in career coaching wins with 202 along with Towson's Tony Seaman.

* Maryland has outscored its opponents 45-14 in the second quarter and 124-66 from the second quarter on. In 15 games, the Terps have held six opponents scoreless in the second quarter, with every instance coming in the last 13 games.

Maryland's 26th Time At NCAA's
* Maryland is making its 26th overall NCAA Tournament appearance in 2003. The Terps have played in the third-most tournaments since the event began in 1971. The four remaining teams in the 2003 tournament are the top four all-time in lacrosse history in NCAA appearances.

* The Terps have captured two NCAA championships, 1973 and 1975. Earlier this season, the team celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the 1973 title at halftime of the Johns Hopkins game on April 12, as more than 25 players from that team came back to Byrd Stadium.

* Only Johns Hopkins and Virginia have played in more. The top-seeded Blue Jays have appeared in the last 32 tournaments, only missing the first event in 1971. Virginia has played in 27 NCAA Tournaments, playing in the last 11.

Maryland Record In NCAA's
* The Terps have won the third-most Division I NCAA Tournament games, compiling a 34-23 overall record in 57 games. Only Johns Hopkins (49-24) and Syracuse (44-15) have won more Division I games.

* Maryland is fifth by percentage (.596) among all teams ever to play in the tournament (Princeton, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins and Cornell are ahead).

* The Terps have captured two titles. Only six other schools have ever won the NCAA Championship: Syracuse (8), Johns Hopkins (7), Princeton (6), North Carolina (4), Cornell (3), Virginia (2).

Maryland As The No. 3 Seed
* Maryland is the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time and second in three years. Maryland was previously a No. 3 seed in 1971, 1975, 1977, 1978 and 2001.

* The last time Maryland won the NCAA championship in 1975, the Terps were seeded No. 3. In 12 games as the No. 3 seed, Maryland has a 9-4 record, following its two wins in the 2003 NCAA Tournament (beating Ohio State and Massachusetts).

* Prior to this year, Maryland fell to No. 6 seed Towson, 12-11 at Byrd Stadium, the last time they were a No. 3 seed in 2001. That game was the finale for coach Dick Edell, who retired the following fall due to health problems.

Against The 2003 Field
* Maryland is 5-1 against teams which qualified for the 2003 NCAA Tournament with victories coming against No. 2 seed Virginia (8-7 on March 29), Towson (12-8 on March 8) , Georgetown (9-5 on Apr. 28), Ohio State in the NCAA First Round (8-5 on May 11) and UMass in the NCAA Quarterfinals (13-7). The Terps' only loss came to No. 1 Johns Hopkins (6-5 on April 12 in overtime).

* The Terps have a 83.3 win percentage against teams in the field. Only Johns Hopkins has a better percentage at 87.5, having won seven of eight against the field.

* Virginia is 6-2 against the field of 16. The Cavaliers have regular-season wins over Syracuse (16-15 on March 1), Princeton (10-7 on March 8), Towson (10-2 on March 16), Penn State (11-10 on April 26) and two NCAA tournament wins over Mount St. Mary's (19-8 on May 10) and Georgetown (12-7 on May 18). Their only two losses of the season came in back-to-back games to fellow final four participants Johns Hopkins (8-7 on March 22) and Maryland (8-7 on March 29).

* The four national semifinalists have played a total of five games with every game being decided by one goal with Virginia beating Syracuse (16-15 on March 1), Syracuse beating Johns Hopkins (15-14 on March 15), Johns Hopkins beating Virginia (8-7 on March 22), Maryland beating Virginia (8-7 on March 29) and Johns Hopkins beating Maryland (6-5 on April 12). Maryland also scrimmaged Syracuse back on Feb. 13 and fell to the Orange, by one goal, 15-14.

Cottle In The NCAA Tournament
* This is Dave Cottle's first NCAA Tournament appearance as the head coach of Maryland. He is coaching his 15th team to the NCAA Tournament, with the previous 14 coming during his stint at Loyola. All 14 of his appearances came consecutively starting with the 1988 season and going through the 2001 campaign. Overall, Cottle is 10-14 in NCAA Tournament games, which ranks him fifth among all coaches in the 2003 Tournament in wins. Only Princeton's Bill Tierney (26-8), Virginia's Dom Starsia (17-14), Syracuse's John Desko (13-2) , and Towson's Tony Seaman (12-16) have more tournament wins to their credit than Cottle.

* With his 15th tournament appearance, Cottle now ranks fifth all-time in most NCAA Tournament Division I appearances as a head coach behind only Syracuse's Roy Simmons Jr. (19), former Maryland coach Dick Edell (17), Towson's Tony Seaman (16) and Virginia's Dom Starsia (16). With his streak of 14 consecutive tournaments while at Loyola, Cottle is second only to Simmons Jr. (19), for the longest consecutive steak.

* Cottle has now led his teams to the NCAA Quarterfinals on 13 occasions and to the NCAA semifinals twice prior to this season with an appearance in the 1990 championship game where Loyola fell to Syracuse, 21-9. He also reached the NCAA semifinals, as the No. 1 seed with Loyola, but lost to Maryland, 19-8 at Byrd Stadium on May 23, 1998.

Credit Cottle for Looking ahead To Syracuse
* Last weekend was the Terps' second trip to Syracuse this season, as they scrimmaged the Orangemen back on Feb. 13 at the Carrier Dome. Cottle set up the game so that Maryland would become acclimated to playing a game in the dome, something no member of the current Terps had done in a college game. He did this in anticipation of Maryland having to play an NCAA Tournament game at the dome. Lo and behold, the Terps were sent back to Syracuse by the NCAA committee, which proved fruitful as they defeated Massachusetts (13-7) last Saturday at the Dome.

Maryland-Virginia Connections
* Seven Terps hail from the state of Virginia: J.R. Bordley (Vienna, Va.), Matt Brock (Manakin-Sabot, Va.), brothers Brendan and Ian Healy (Great Falls, Va.), redshirt Patrick Howell (Arlington, Va.), Danny McCormick (McLean, Va.) and Jim Sbarra (Great Falls, Va.).

* The Virginia roster features 14 players from Maryland: Jimmy Barter (Bethesda, Md.), David Burman (Kensington, Md.), Jack deVilliers (Lutherville, Md.), Kyle Dixon (Millersville, Md.), Andrew Faraone (Baltimore, Md.), Newton Gentry (Annapolis, Md.), Brendan Gill (Lutherville, Md.), Billy Glading (Bethesda, Md.), Tillman Johns (Annapolis, Md.), Ted Lamade (Chevy Chase, Md.), Keith McGrath (Woodstock, Md.), Justin Mullen (Annapolis, Md.), Chris Oursman (Bethesda, Md.) and Trey Whitty (Timonium, Md.).

* Several Cavaliers and Terps have family connections to the other squad. Maryland attacker Matt Urlock has a sister Molly, who is a sophomore defender at Virginia.

* Wahoo David Burman's brother Andrew Burman played four years at Maryland (1999-2002), serving as a team captain last season. Virginia's Justin Mullen is the son of former Maryland great Ed Mullen (1972-76), who is the seventh all-time leading scorer at Maryland with 191 points. He helped the Terps to two NCAA titles in 1973 and 1975.

Call Them Graduates After Thursday
* Eight Terps will graduate from the University of Maryland this Thursday, May 22 in a ceremony held at Comcast Center. The class of 2003 includes Matt Brock (Communications), Brett Harper (Communications), Sean Leary (General Business) Frank Luciano (Technological Marketing), Danny McCormick (Geography), Mike Mollot (Communications), Willy Passavia (Communications) and Matt Urlock (Communications).

* The Terps' other four seniors will complete their degrees in the next semester: Jamie Daue, Michael Howley, Ryan Moran and Jim Sbarra.

* The graduates join two other Terps who have already completed their degrees and are playing with the Terps as graduate student as Brian Hunt graduated from Yale last spring and Joe Parker received his degree from Colgate. Hunt is in the Robert H. Smith School of Business and Maryland and Parker is pursing a Master's in criminal justice.

Current Individual Terps In The NCAA Tournament
* Heading into the Ohio State NCAA first round game, only 13 current members of the Maryland roster had ever played in an NCAA Tournament game as Maryland did not make the tournament last season. But now the current Terps have two wins under their belts as they face Virginia this Saturday.

* Senior midfielder Mike Mollot leads all players in scoring in NCAA games as he has 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points in five games. He has had two career days in the NCAA Tournament. The first came as he had three goals and four assists for a career-high seven points against Hofstra in the 2000 first round at UMBC. The second came last Saturday as he pumped in four goals and added an assist for five points vs. UMass in the 2003 Quarterfinals. He also had a goal and assist vs. Towson in the 2001 quarterfinals. In the 2003 first round against Ohio State, he had two goals and an assist.

* Junior attacker Dan LaMonica is second on the team in points in NCAA games with eight. In that 2001 Towson quarterfinal game, he posted a team-high five points on two goals and three assists. He had three assists in the win over Ohio State in the 2003 first round.

* Senior Matt Brock has been a primetime player in the 2003 NCAA Tournament, scoring once vs. Ohio State and twice vs. UMass for his only three goals of the season.

* Senior midfielder Jamie Daue has two goals, as he scored in the 2001 Towson game and vs. the Buckeyes in 2003.

* Joe Walters, Matt Brock, Sean Leary, Ryan Moran and Willy Passavia all scored their first career NCAA Tournament goals in the win over Ohio State.

* Prior to the 13-save effort vs. Ohio State, goalie Danny McCormick had played the final 46 seconds of the Terps' 2000 NCAA quarterfinal loss to Princeton for his only postseason action. He how has a 5.98 goals against average and a 70.0 save percentage in three playoff appearances. He has allowed just 12 goals, making 28 saves in 120:25 of action.

Individual Terps Vs. Virginia
* With the Terps and Wahoos playing five times over the previous three seasons, 10 Maryland players have scored against Virginia.

* Dan LaMonica leads the scoring parade with six goals and four assists for 10 points. Mike Mollot has seven goals and has a total of nine points after netting a pair of goal in the 2003 game. Each posted hat tricks in the ACC Semifinal win in Orlando in 2001 and each scored a goal in last season's game.

* Matt Urlock has five career goals against the Cavaliers scoring two goals in each game played in 2000 and once more last season.

* ACC Rookie of the Year Joe Walters posted a hat trick in his first game vs. Virginia, earlier this season, including the game-winning goal. He also added an assist for four points.

* Virginia native Matt Brock, Jamie Daue, Justin Smith and Willy Passavia also have goals vs. Virginia. Brock notched a pair of assists in the 2003 regular-season meeting as well.

The Coaching Match-up
* Maryland head coach Dave Cottle has a 4-6 record vs. Virginia. He went 3-5 vs. Virginia while he was the coach at Loyola, but none of the games came against a Dom Starsia-led team. This season, Cottle moved to 1-1 against the Wahoos while at Maryland. Prior to last season, the last time Cottle coached against Virginia came in 1991, finishing a run of eight games in a nine-year span.

* Both Starsia and Cottle began their head coaching careers in 1983, Cottle at Loyola and Starsia at Brown. Despite both coaches running major programs for the last 20 years, they have only coached against each other six times with Starsia winning four of the six games, including his last game at Brown, a 19-12 win in the NCAA Tournament first round in 1992 -- the only other time they have coached against each other in the NCAA Tournament.

* Cottle is currently the third winningest active coach in the country with a 72.4 win percentage with a record of 202-77. Starsia has won 71.8 percent of his games at Brown and Virginia (224-88 record). In the total wins among active coaches Starsia is fifth and Cottle is tied for eighth.

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