Oct. 18, 2005

College Park, Md. - With just three games remaining in the 2005 regular season, the University of Maryland women's soccer team is playing for a berth in the ACC Tournament. The Terps begin those three games on Wednesday evening vs. Virginia Tech at 6 p.m. at Ludwig Field.

A Look Back At Last Week
• The Terps split a pair of ACC games and sit at 2-4-1 in the conference, placing them eighth in the standings heading into this week's action.

• Kimmy Francis scored Maryland's first goal and Sarah Sample scored the game-winner in overtime as the Terrapins beat NC State 2-1 last Thursday at Ludwig Field.

• Maryland then lost a 1-0 decision on the road at No. 6 Duke. Nikki Resnick stopped nine Blue Devil shots in the defeat, her fifth game with nine or more saves this season.

Scouting the Hokies
• Virginia Tech is 5-10-1 (1-7-0 ACC) this season after losing 3-1 to No. 3 North Carolina in Blacksburg, Va., last Sunday.

• The Hokies are led by freshman forward Laurie Beth Puglisi who leads the team with five goals and one assist for 11 points. Sophomore forward Ashley Stinson is second on the club with three goals and one assist for seven points.

• Head Coach Kelly Cagle is in her third season at the helm of the VT program and has compiled a 25-28-1 (.472) overall record.

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 90-28-8 (.746) at Ludwig Field.

• Earlier this season, in 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.

All-Time vs. The ACC • The Terps have an all-time record of 32-69-9 (.332) in regular season ACC play.

The Virginia Tech Series
• The Maryland-Virginia Tech series is in its infancy with the two teams meeting just twice previously, both in the regular season. • Last season, the Hokies won their first-ever ACC game vs. Maryland, 2-0 at Ludwig Field.

• The first meeting between the two programs came in 1995, a 6-0 romp for the 15th-ranked Terrapins. That game marked the first-ever soccer game at Ludwig Field.

The Last Time vs. The Hokies
The Maryland women's soccer team dropped its first game of the 2004 season, as Virginia Tech's Ashley Stinson tallied goals in the 20th and 22nd minutes to put the Hokies up by a 2-0 margin midway through the first half. Maryland fell by that same 2-0 margin, as it was unable to overcome the early first-half deficit.

The Hokies seized momentum early in the first half, taking four shots before the Terps tallied their first. Kimmy Francis had the team's first opportunity at the 14:15 mark when she controlled a ball in the Virginia Tech box, turned and fired a left-footed shot at Hokie netminder, Mallory Soldner. Soldner made a diving save to her left - one of eight saves on the night - and turned Francis away.

The Terps continued to force the action and were presented another scoring opportunity when Francis connected with Mallory Mahar on a corner kick. Mahar headed the Francis pass hard to the near post, but again Soldner made the save to her left.

Minutes later, Stinson scored the first of her two goals on the night - the freshman tallied five in two games this week - when she was able to volley a ball over the top of Terp keeper Nikki Resnick.

Less than two minutes later, Stinson again found the back of the net, this time floating a ball over Resnick and into the bottom left corner of the Terp net. The goal put the Hokies up by a 2-0 margin, as Maryland gave up more than one goal in a contest for the first time in 13 games.

The Terps put the pressure back on the Hokie defense in the second half, holding a 12-7 advantage in shots in the second frame. But Virginia Tech's Mallory Soldner was up to the challenge, turning away five Maryland shots in the second half, including another sprawling save- this time on a Kelly Rozumalski blast from just inside the box. The team also held an advantage in corner kicks in the second half, tallying five corners to the Hokies' 1, but were unable to beat Soldner, as the Hokies held on for a 2-0 win.

Resnick Tops In ACC
• Junior goalkeeper Nikki Resnick , a native of Boca Raton, Fla., is leading the ACC in saves per game (6.3). In Maryland's seven ACC games this season she has stopped 60 shots for an amazing 8.6 saves per game average.

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 one points to move into sole-possession of third on the career points chart with 67. She is currently tied for third with Robin McCullough with 66. In second place is Emmy Harbo with 140 points.

• With her goal vs. NC State, Francis moved into a sole-possession of the sixth spot on the all-time goal scoring list with 22 goals. She is two shy of tying Jackie Mynarski for fifth with 24 goals and three shy of Michelle Deville, who compiled 25 goals during her career. 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 second on the career shots list with 219. With 11 shots in the 2-1 victory over NC State, Francis passed Emmy Harbo who fired 214 shots during her career.

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 in 2005, Maryland's strength of schedule is the toughest in the nation, according to SoccerRatings.com. The Terrapins' opponent rating, which is the average rating of their opponents, is 1819. The next closest team is Washington with an opponent rating of 1763. The only other Eastern team in the top seven is Virginia (1728).

• The Terps take on 10 teams in the latest NSCAA poll including two of the top three and six of the top 10. The Terps host host No. 1 Penn State (0-3 L), No. 3 North Carolina (0-4 L), at No. 6 Duke (0-1 L), at No. 7 Notre Dame (0-6 L), at No. 8 Virginia (Oct. 23), at No. 9 Florida State (Oct. 6), host No. 11 Boston College (Oct. 29), vs. No. 16 UConn at the Notre Dame Invitational (1-2 L, 2OT), host No. 22 Yale (0-1 L), and host No. 23 Wake Forest (1-0 W).

• 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.