Oct. 13, 2005

College Park, Md. - With three weeks remaining in the 2005 regular season, the University of Maryland women's soccer team plays a pair of key ACC games this week. The Terps begin by hosting NC State on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. at Ludwig Field. Maryland then travels to Durham, N.C., for a 2 p.m. meeting with No. 6 Duke on Sunday, Oct. 16 at Koskinen Stadium.

A Look Back At Last Week
• The Terps (3-8-2) dropped a pair of ACC road games and take a 1-3-1 conference mark into this week's action.

• Kimmy Francis scored Maryland's lone goal in a 3-1 loss at No. 17 Florida State last Thursday. With that goal, Francis moved into fourth on the school's career points list with 64. She also moved into a tie in all-time goals scored with Robin McCullough for sixth place with 21.

• Maryland dropped the second leg of its Florida swing 2-0 at Miami. Junior goalkeeper Nikki Resnick made six saves in the loss that saw the Terps play most of the second half down a man due to two yellow cards assessed to senior defender Danielle Malagari.

Scouting the WolfPack
• NC State is 6-7-0 (2-3-0 ACC) on the season after dropping a 1-0 decision at Wake Forest last Thursday before beating Virginia Tech in Raleigh 4-2 this past Sunday.

• The Wolfpack is led by freshman forward Lindsay Vera who leads the team with five goals and three assists for 13 points. Junior midfielder Carol Trognetti (4G-1A=9P) and senior forward Lydia McBath (3G-1A=7P) are second and third, respectively, on the squad in points.

• Head Coach Laura Kerrigan is in her eighth season at the helm of the NC State program and has compiled a 64-71-11 (.476) overall record.

Scouting the Blue Devils
• Duke, ranked 12th in last week's NSCAA/adidas coaches' poll, is 9-2-1 (3-2-0 ACC) on the season, is coming off a 2-1 upset of No. 1 North Carolina this past Sunday on the road in Chapel Hill. The Blue Devils defeated No. 8 Wake Forest, 3-0, on Wednesday before facing the Terps on Sunday.

• Offensively, three Blue Devils are tied for the team lead in goals with three, including junior midfielder Rebecca Moros, who scored both goals vs. the Tar Heels.

• Defensively, Duke has allowed only five goals this season and have only allowed 31 shots on goal.

• Head Coach Robbie Church is in his fifth season at the helm of the Duke program, compiling a record of 45-32-5 (.579). Overall he has a career record as a head coach of 139-83-14 (.619) in 12 seasons.

At Ludwig Field
• Since its opening in 1995, Ludwig Field has proved to be a tremendous home-field advantage for the Terps women's soccer team. All-time Maryland is 89-28-8 (.744) at Ludwig Field.

• The last time the Terps played at Ludwig Field, a 4-0 loss to No. 1 North Carolina, junior goalkeeper Nikki Resnick broke Riki-Ann Serrins five-year old record for saves in a game with 14 vs. the Tar Heels.

Resnick Tops In ACC
• Junior goalkeeper Nikki Resnick , a native of Boca Raton, Fla., is leading the ACC in saves per game (6.0). In Maryland's five ACC games this season she has stopped 44 shots for an amazing 8.8 saves per game average.

All-Time vs. The ACC
• The Terps have an all-time record of 31-68-9 (.329) in regular season ACC play.

The NC State Series
• The Maryland-NC State series dates back to the start of the Terps' varsity program in 1987. In fact, NC State, along with Virginia and North Carolina are the only teams to have played Maryland at least once in each varsity season for the past 17 years.

• Last season, the Terps played the Wolfpack twice, winning the regular season contest and advancing in the ACC Tournament on penalty kicks.

The Last Time vs. NC State
The 19th ranked Maryland women's soccer team advanced to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament by beating NC State 4-2. Sophomore goalkeeper Nikki Resnick came up big for the Terps in the shootout, stopping two shots, including the first one, to take some of the pressure off of the Maryland shooters.

The game was deadlocked through 110 minutes of play despite the Terrapins firing a season-high 32 shots, including 11 on goal. Overall, Maryland outshot the Wolfpack 32-12, but could not find a way to but the ball into the net.

The Terps jumped on the offensive right from the start, racking up seven shots before NC State got its first one off. Maryland freshman Stevie Dunning had a breakaway in the 24th minute off a through-ball from Kimmy Francis, but Wolfpack goalkeeper Megan Connors batted the ball away for the save.

Francis found herself one-on-one with Connors in the 77th minute, but her shot went off the far right post. Freshman Carissa Gilbert collected the rebound and fired a shot with Connors out of position, but a NCSU defender was there to block the shot.

The Wolfpack came back to dominate play in the first overtime period, keeping the ball in the Maryland defensive half and outshooting the Terps 4-0.

The second overtime saw the Terps regain control of the game, forcing two corner kicks in the first four minutes of the period. Junior Simone Dekker had the best scoring chance for Maryland in the 107th minute when her shot from the right side of the penalty box skimmed the crossbar before spinning out over the top of the net.

With the game a 0-0 tie through four periods of play a shootout would determine the winner. NC State's Carol Tognetti went first for the Wolfpack, but Resnick made a diving save to her left to give the Terps the advantage. Francis converted the first PK to give Maryland a 1-0 lead. NCSU's Anna Helenius made good on the Wolfpack's second attempt to tie the shootout at 1-1, but Dekker responded by making her attempt to put the Terps back on top 2-1. NC State's Amy Graul tried to tie the shootout, but this time Resnick made the save diving to her right to keep the score 2-1. Maryland's Nataly Arias and NC State's Megan Sadler each converted their attempts to give Maryland a 3-2 edge with one more Maryland goal being the clincher. Gilbert, who missed seven matches earlier this season due to injury, fired the ball past Connors to give Maryland the victory and send the team to the ACC Quarterfinals.

The Duke Series
• Duke holds a 11-10-2 edge in the all-time matchups with Maryland. In one of the fiercest rivalries, the unranked or lower-ranked team has won eight of the last 10 games in the series. In last year's meeting Duke was ranked 10th, while the Terps were unranked but receiving votes. Maryland has won nine of the last 11 in the series.

The Last Time vs. Duke
Kimmy Francis scored in the 97th minute to break a scoreless tie and give the Maryland women's soccer team a 1-0 over No. 10 Duke Saturday night at Ludwig Field.

Junior Mallory Mahar fired a long pass from near midfield to the edge of the penalty box where Francis collected the ball, eluded two Duke defenders and rocketed the ball toward the Blue Devil net. Duke goalkeeper Allison Lipsher got a piece of the ball, but it had enough on it to trickle into the net for the game-winning goal.

The win elevated the Terps' record to 7-4-3 on the season, 3-4-2 in the ACC. It was also Maryland's second win over a Top 10 team this season, the first time that's happened since 1999. The Terps beat No. 3 UCLA 2-1 on Sept. 12. Duke drops to 12-5-0 on the season, 5-3-0 in the conference.

While the game was scoreless through regulation each team pressured the other and had opportunities to score. Just eight minutes into the game, Francis sent a corner kick into the box where a leaping Mahar made good contact with a header, but the ball hit the crossbar and was sent over the goal. That wasn't the only time the crossbar would play a part in the game however.

In the 61st minute a free kick by Duke ended up with Casey McCulskey, who entered the game with 15 goals on the season, had a clear shot at the goal, but Terps goalkeeper Nikki Resnick deflected the shot, which ricocheted off the crossbar. The ball bounced at the feet of Blue Devil Rebecca Moros, who had a wide open net to shot on, but she too found the crossbar. That deflection came to Duke's Lorraine Quinn who fired a shot wide of the Maryland net.

Blue Devil Rachel-Rose Cohen also fell victim to the crossbar in the 70th minute. Quinn sent a ball from the far right into the box and found Cohen who fired a shot that hit the crossbar.

The Terps had another brush with the crossbar in the 87th minute. Junior midfielder Simone Dekker had a clear look at the Duke goal from the far right side, but her shot hit the bottom of the crossbar and deflected out to Maryland's Nataly Arias, whose follow-up shot went over the net.

Maryland, despite 10 players playing the entire game, controlled the action at the end of the second half and carried that momentum into the overtime session. Freshman midfielder Stevie Dunning forced Lipsher to make her first save of the game in the 94th minute on a sensational bicycle kick shot.

Resnick Shutting Out The ACC
• Nikki Resnick is tied for fifth in career shutouts at Maryland with 10, but five of those shutouts have come against ACC opponents, including three ranked among the Top 11 in the nation at the time.

Francis Within Striking Distance
• Senior captain Kimmy Francis is within reach of moving up several of Maryland's all-time lists.

• She needs just two points to move into a tie for third on the career points chart with Robin McCullough with 66.

• With her next goal Francis will move into a sole-possession of the sixth spot on the all-time goal scoring list, breaking her current tie with Robin McCullogh with 21 goals. Francis is already one of only eight players in the history of Maryland women's soccer to score 20 or more goals in their careers.

• Francis needs two assists to tie McCullough for third place on the career list with 24.

• The senior from Richboro, Pa., is only eight shots shy of taking over second place on the career shots list. Francis currently sits in third with 207, while Emmy Harbo is second with 214.

Long Range Threat
• Sophomore midfielder Nataly Arias has made a habit of scoring big goals for the Terps in ACC action - or should it be long goals. Two of Arias' four career goals have come on 35-yard blasts to either tie or beat a Top 15 opponent.

• Last year with the Terps trailing 1-0 vs. No. 14 Florida State at home, Arias fired a 35-yarder with her right foot that sailed past FSU's keeper into the net to give the Terps a 1-1 tie.

• Arias did the exact same thing on Sept. 30 vs. No. 11 Wake Forest, but this time the game was scoreless at the time and the Terrapins were able to hold on for a 1-0 victory.

Playing The Best
• Once again, the Terps boast one of the nation's most competitive schedules. The Terps take on eight teams in the preseason NSCAA poll including three of the top five and seven of the top 12. The Terps host No. 1 North Carolina (0-4 L), host No. 2 Penn State (0-3 L), at No. 5 Virginia (Oct. 23), host No. 8 Wake Forest (1-0 W), host No. 10 Boston College (Oct. 29), at No. 11 Notre Dame (0-6 L),at No. 12 Duke (Oct. 16), vs. No. 16 UConn at the Notre Dame Invitational (1-2 L, 2OT), at No. 17 Florida State (Oct. 6), and host No. 20 Yale (0-1 L). • During five of the past six seasons, Maryland has at least one upset win or tie of a top-10 ranked team: a 4-3 win at No. 9 Duke on Sept. 19, 1999 and a 2-1 victory over Clemson on Oct. 17, 1999; a 3-1 win over No. 4 Penn State on Aug. 29, 2000; a 1-0 overtime over No. 8 Clemson on Oct. 13, 2001 and a 1-1 tie at No. 2 North Carolina last season, on Nov. 1, 2002. Most recently, the Terps stunned No. 3 UCLA 2-1 at the Virginia Soccer Classic on Sept. 12, 2004. A month and a half later, Maryland beat No. 10 Duke 1-0 in overtime at Ludwig Field. The Terps topped all of those victories with a 1-0 shutout of No. 2 seed Penn State in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. The win also snapped the Nittany Lions 39-game home winning streak and was head coach Paula Wilkins' first-ever loss at Jeffrey Field.

Media Information
• WMUC Radio: Maryland's student radio station WMUC (88.1 FM) will broadcast every home Maryland women's soccer game in 2005. A pregame show will air approximately 30 minutes prior to kickoff. WMUC's broadcasts can be heard live on the Internet at wmucsports.com and will be linked to umterps.com.

• 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 Patrick Fischer at pfischer@umd.edu with the message "Women's Soccer Email" as the subject and you will receive every update.

• Terps on the Web: For up-to-date game stories, statistics, schedules and results, and other Maryland athletic department information, please locate www. umterps.com on the Internet.