COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Men's soccer coach Sasho Cirovski will remind his players that it is not 2004, that it's not the NCAA Semifinals and the winner does not advance to play for the national championship. Despite the absence of those ramifications, Saturday's game against two-time defending national champions Indiana will still have all the electricity and excitement around a game with those kinds of stakes on the line.

"This is a showcase game for two of the best attacking teams in the country," Cirovski says. "Saturday is not the NCAA stage because it does not have that finality to it, but it will have that kind of feel."

Facing the fifth-ranked Hoosiers this season after Indiana stunned Maryland at last year's College Cup on a golden goal with just 48 seconds remaining in the second overtime already adds a level of emotion to the game. Piling on to that, though, is the fact that Maryland will pay tribute to six seniors who comprise arguably one of the most successful classes in school history.

The Terps and Hoosiers kickoff at 8 p.m. The game will be televised live by CN8.

"It's awesome to have a game like this as our last regular season game," senior captain Michael Dello-Russo says. "I mean, you can't ask for anything more as far a way to go out."

"I'm definitely excited, but at the same time, it's sad that it's coming to an end," Kenney Bertz says. "I'm just going to try and soak everything up and take in the atmosphere with `The Crew' and all."

The atmosphere promises to be one of the best in college soccer this year and in Ludwig Field history. Officials have sold nearly 2,000 tickets in advance for Saturday's matchup and are expecting a crowd that rivals the 6,143 that showed up for the UCLA game in 2003.

"It's going to be, in one word, raucos," senior Chris Lancos says.

With all of the emotion, it would be easy to get swept away in the moment and lose focus of the actual game. However, Indiana demands the Terps' full attention as the Hoosiers have again proved to be the standard for college soccer this season.

"I do think we will have to keep our emotions in check," Lancos says. "As with any game with this much emotion, the first five minutes will kind of be frantic, but we have to maintain our composure and get into our game. They have great attacking players all over the field and they're well organized, so we have to be so disciplined and try to take our chances when we can."

Bertz echoes how dangerous a team Indiana is.

"They have guys that can wreak havoc. They are hard working and pay attention to detail. We have to keep containment on them and really force them to make plays."

In the remote possibility that Indiana visiting doesn't get the fans in a tizzy, or if the Senior Day ceremony doesn't get the crowd fired up, Cirovski has brought in a Terrapin icon to help get the night started: Gary Williams. Williams, who led the Terps past Indiana in 2002 to claim the national championship and was a soccer coach for seven years at Lafayette, will do a ceremonial first kick to cap the pregame festivities.

"Gary has been a great friend of mine since I got here and of the men's soccer program," Cirovski says. "The University owes a lot to Gary, and we're trying to celebrate what he's done here and get the crowd into a frenzy early on."

Words like raucous, frenzy and electricity are not usually used to describe the atmosphere of a regular season, non-conference game. But just two days before Halloween, this Maryland-Indiana game is a regular season game all dressed up and masquerading as a postseason tilt.

A Quick Look At Maryland-Indiana

Indiana At A Glance
• The Hoosiers took down Notre Dame 3-0 on Wednesday before traveling to College Park for Saturday's game with the Terrapins. IU has a record of 10-1-5. Its only loss of the season came to Penn State (a team that also picked up a win over Maryland earlier this season).
• The two-time defending national champions are led by Hermann candidates Brian Plotkin, Jacob Peterson and Jed Zayner. Plotkin leads the team in assists (nine) and points (23). Peterson has a team-best eight goals to go with a pair of assists. Zayner, a defender, has a goal and assist on the year.
• Indiana also boasts one of the top freshmen in the country in Lee Nguyen. He is second on the team in assists with eight.
• Chris Munroe has started all 15 games for the Hoosiers this season. Munroe replaced three-year starter Jay Nolly who graduated last year. Munroe has a goals-against average of just 0.65 and has six shutouts to his credit.
• Indiana has scored 26 of the team's 42 goals in the second half.
• The Hoosiers have been shut out just once this season (a 0-0 tie with Michigan State).
• Indiana leads the all-time series with the Terps, 3-0. IU defeated Maryland in Bloomington in 1999, 1-0, and picked up a 2-1 overtime win in College Park in 2000. The Hoosiers also knocked off the Terps in last year's NCAA Semifinal, 3-2.

Last Season vs. Indiana
• Indiana's John Michael Hayden scored on a header with just 48 seconds remaining in the second overtime to give the Hoosiers a 3-2 win over the Maryland Terrapins at The Home Depot Center to advance to the NCAA Finals.
• Jason Garey gave Maryland the 1-0 lead after Abe Thompson made a great individual effort on the ball. Thompson worked outside the right corner of the box. Thompson then sent a short cross to the front of the goal before he fell to the ground holding off an Indiana defender that Garey was able to redirect into the net.
• The Hoosiers evened the score early in the 52nd minute on a free kick by Brian Plotkin. Plotkin was on a run before he was fouled by a Terrapin just outside the box. Plotkin then took the free kick from 18 yards that found its way through the Maryland wall and into the lower right corner of the net.
• Mike Ambersley put the Hoosiers ahead at 70:11 after making a move at the top of the box, moving to his right and getting the shot off. The shot was deflected off a Terp defender and went into the back of the net.
• Maurice Edu evened things up at 80:38 on a header off a corner kick from Michael Dello-Russo.
• With time running out in the second overtime, Danny O'Rourke worked on the left side of the Terrapin box before sending a cross into the box. Hayden made a strong run into the box and headed the ball into the net before Palmer could punch it away.