Oct. 22, 2005

College Park, Md. - With just two games remaining in the 2005 regular season, the University of Maryland women's soccer team is fighting for a berth in the ACC Tournament. The Terps continue their quest for the ACC Tournament tomorrow at No. 8 Virginia at Klockner Field. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.

A Look Back At Virginia Tech
The University of Maryland women's soccer team and the Virginia Tech Hokies played 110 minutes, but neither team could find the net and had to settle for a 0-0 tie Wednesday night at Ludwig Field.

"This result is disappointing," said Maryland head coach Brian Pensky. "We felt confident coming into tonight, based on our last two performances, that we were going to get a win. I thought that our players battled hard, particularly in the second half and overtime, but unfortunately we were not able to finish our chances."

Both teams were unsettled in the first half, but the Terrapins came out in the second half, dominated possession and created scoring opportunities. Maryland outshot Virginia Tech 11-1 in the second half, but could not get a shot past the Hokie defense.

Mallory Soldner made seven saves for Virginia Tech, but it was defender Lindsay Alexander who came up with the biggest save of the game. In the 70th minute Terrapin defender Ashly Kennedy got her head on the end of a corner kick from senior forward Kimmy Francis. Kennedy directed the header to the near post, away from Soldner who was positioned in the middle of the goal, but Alexander blocked Kennedy's shot and preserved the scoreless tie.

The game almost ended in the final minute of the first overtime when senior defender Danielle Malagari launched a shot from more than 40 yards out that appeared to be headed into the top right corner of the Hokie net, but Soldner used every inch of her 5-11 frame to get a finger on the ball and deflect it over the crossbar.

The Terps had one last chance to get the victory in the 110th minute. Francis collected the ball in the lower left corner of the Hokie defensive third and crossed a centering pass to Sarah Sample, who fired a shot high from 12 yards directly in front of the Virginia Tech net.

Maryland's defense, which has been shuffled throughout the season due to injuries, rose to the occasion, allowing only seven Hokie shots. Junior goalkeeper Nikki Resnick entered the game leading the ACC in saves per game (6.3) was only called upon to make three saves.

The game was Maryland's sixth overtime game this season. The team record for overtime games in a season is eight, which was set just a season ago in 2004 when the Terps were 2-2-4 in those contests.

Scouting the Cavaliers
• Virginia, ranked 8th in this week's NSCAA/adidas coaches' poll, is 11-4-1 (6-2-0 ACC) on the season, is coming off a 1-0 loss at No. 11 Boston College on Thursday.

• Offensively, four Cavaliers have more than 10 points on the season, led by freshman forward Jess Rostedt and senior midfielder Noelle Keselica who each have seven goals and four assists for 18 points.

• Defensively, the Wahoos has given up only 13 goals this season and have only allowed 56 shots on goal.

• Head Coach Steve Swanson is in his sixth season at the helm of the UVa program, compiling a record of 81-31-12. Overall he has a career record as a head coach of 184-93-23 in 16 seasons.

All-Time vs. The ACC
• The Terps have an all-time record of 32-69-10 (.333) in regular season ACC play.

The Virginia Series
• Virginia leads the all-time series with the Terps 18-2-3 and Maryland is looking for its first-ever win in Charlottesville.

• Maryland's other victory over Virginia came in a 3-2 double overtime thriller in 1998.

• The Terps and Cavs have made a habit of playing close games over the last nine years. In that span, taking out a 5-0 UVa. win in 1999, the Wahoos hold a 10-9 scoring advantage over Maryland. In their last four meetings, the two teams have each scored a total of two goals.

• All but four games of the 23-game series have been regular season match-ups. The last time the two schools met in the postseason was the opening round of the 1994 ACC Tournament, which ended in a 1-1 tie.

The Last Time vs. The Cavaliers
The University of Maryland battled the sixth-ranked Virginia Cavaliers to a 0-0 tie Tuesday night at Ludwig Field. The decision brings the Terps' record on the season to 4-3-2, 1-3-1, in the ACC. Virginia, after winning nine straight to start the season, is now 9-1-1 overall, 2-1-1 in the ACC.

With limited depth the Terrapins relied on a stingy defense and an opportunistic offense to dictate the pace of the match. Sophomore goalkeeper Nikki Resnick turned in another outstanding performance, stopping seven Virginia shots to record her second consecutive shutout.

The Cavaliers outshot Maryland by a 28-6 margin, but freshman midfielder Stevie Dunning had perhaps the best scoring opportunity of the match. In the 34th minute of play Dunning flicked a header that appeared to have Cavalier goalkeeper Christina de Vries beat, but the ball went over the crossbar by mere inches.

Resnick Tops In ACC
• Junior goalkeeper Nikki Resnick , a native of Boca Raton, Fla., is leading the ACC in saves per game (6.1). In Maryland's eight ACC games this season she has stopped 63 shots for an amazing 7.9 saves per game average.

Resnick Shutting Out The ACC
• Nikki Resnick is fifth in career shutouts at Maryland with 11, but six 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.