Feb. 25, 2005

College Park, Md. - No. 4 Terps Open Season With No. 5 Georgetown
• Coming off a trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals, the preseason No. 4 Maryland men's lacrosse team opens its 2005 regular season vs. local rival No. 5 Georgetown. The game returns to College Park after the Terps made their first ever appearance at Georgetown a year ago. Maryland won last year's game, 14-5, behind hat tricks from Xander Ritz and Joe Walters.

• The two schools, located less than 15 miles apart, played played for the first time in the regular season in 2003. The Terps won that meeting, 9-5 on April 28 after the original meeting set for Feb. 22, was postponed due to unplayable field conditions at Maryland's Artificial Turf Facility due to a driving rain storm. The teams had scrimmaged each other for many years over the last decade before agreeing to start a regular-season series in 2003. The teams met just once in history prior to last season, the 1997 NCAA Tournament, as the Terps downed the Hoyas, 14-10 at Towson.

• Maryland -- under the leadership of Dave Cottle, now in his fourth year with Maryland -- comes into the season after a 13-3 campaign in 2004, winning the ACC title for the first time since 1998 and a trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals.

• Georgetown reached the NCAA Quarterfinals last season and finished 11-4 overall. They topped Towson, 15-8, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual national champion Syracuse, 8-7 in the quarterfinals, which marked the second straight season that the Hoyas' season ended with a loss to the eventual NCAA winner (Virginia '03).

High-Powered Offense, New Look Defense
• Coming into the 2004 season, the Terps possessed one of the nation's most dominating defensive units and a talented, but unproven, offense. This season it's just the opposite. Maryland graduated its entire starting defense from 2004, which included National Defensive Player of the Year Lee Zink and All-Americans David Wagner and Chris Passavia. Replacing that trio will be senior Gavin Webb and sophomores Ray Megill and Steve Whittenberg. The Terrapins also lost short-stick defensive middie Paul Gillette to graduation, but senior Tyler Hereth returns as the starting long-stick defensive midfielder.

• While the defense is reloading, the offense is expected to be firing on all cylinders right from the outset with the return of 2004 ACC Player of the Year and first team All-American Joe Walters. The national honors candidate was one of the top scorers in the country last season netting 46 goals to go along with a team-high 22 assists. Walters' junior running-mate Xander Ritz also returns to give Maryland a formidable 1-2 punch. Ritz, who transfered from Delaware prior to the 2004 season, was the Terps' third-leading scorer last season with 31 points on 13 goals and 18 assists. Sophomore Michael Phipps replaces graduated senior J.R. Bordley as the third attackman. Phipps scored five goals and added four assists in 2004.

• The midfield units will also have their fair share of firepower this season. Preseason first team All-American Bill McGlone was the second leading scorer for the Terps in 2004 with 36 points on 25 goals and 11 assists. McGlone got better as the season wore on last year, culminating with a seven-point performance in the regular season finale vs. Penn. Joining McGlone on the first midfield will be fellow junior Brendan Healy, who is arguably the hardest worker in the Terps program. As a sophomore in 2004, Healy scored 18 goals to finish third on the team in that category. Senior Andrew Schwartzman rounds out the first midfield unit, scored five goals as a junior playing mostly in a man-up role.

Checking Out The Hoyas
• Georgetown boasts a trio of outstanding defensive players coming into the 2005 season. All-American Brodie Merrill is a preseason favorite for the defensive player of the year award after picking up 90 groundballs in 2004 to go along with three goals and four assists. Goalie Rich D'Andrea is a good shot-stopper, allowing only 107 goals in 2004 for a 8.07 GAA. A great defense keeps the ball away from the opponent and for the Hoyas that starts with Andy Corno at face-off, who won more than 68% of his face-offs in 2004.

Maryland-Georgetown Series History
• This will mark just the fourth-ever meeting between the local schools with the Terps holding the 3-0 advantage.

• Last season, Xander Ritz and Joe Walters each netted three goals, with Ritz adding four assists for a seven-point game to propelled the Terrapins to a decisive 14-5 victory in the regular season home opener on February 28, 2004. Bill McGlone and Justin Smith each scored two goals, while goalie Tim McGinnis stopped 13 Hoya shots.

• In the 2003 game Brian Hunt, Ryan Moran and Mike Mollot each netted two goals, plus Lee Zink's first-career goal and a strong defense gave the Terps a 9-5 victory in the regular season home finale on April 28, 2003.

• In the first game between the schools, Maryland defeated Georgetown, 14-10, in the first round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament at Towson. The Terps jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first quarter and never looked back as they began their run to the second of three trips to the NCAA championship game in a four-year span. The game marked Georgetown's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

• All-American Scott Hochstadt, the school's 17th all-time leading scorer, led the way for Maryland as he posted five goals. Andrew Whipple added three for Maryland as the Terps outshot the Hoyas, 42-25.

Individual Terps Vs. Georgetown
• The Terps have met the Hoyas in each of the last two regular seasons and only one Maryland player has scored in each of those contests - Joe Walters. As a freshman in 2003 Walters had two points on a goal and an a assist. Last year, he posted his first of 12 games on the season of three or more goals with three vs. Georgetown.

• Xander Ritz scored a career-best seven points vs. Georgetown last year in his Terrapin debut. Other returning Terps that scored in the Gerogetown game were: Bill McGlone (2-1=3), Brendan Healy (1-1=2), Michael Hartofilis (1-0=1) and Ian Healy (1-0=1).

Opponent Connections
• The Terps and Hoyas have several former high school teammates suiting up for Saturday's match-up.

• Freshmen Max Ritz, Chris Early and Scott Kahoe will face each other for the first time after playing together at Radnor High School.

• Sophomores Ryan Clarke and Christian Trunz will meet after finishing their careers with the Flyers last spring.

• Senior captain Gavin Webb will meet fellow Upper Arlington alumni Clayton Hall and John Trapp.

• Junior David Tamberrino and Andrew Baird were teammates at Loyola Blakefield.

Terps' 80th Season of Lacrosse
• The Terps begin the 2005 season with an all-time record of 650-208-4, dating back to the first varsity team in 1924 (a team was not fielded in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II). Maryland has finished every one of its previous 79 seasons with a .500 or better record, including last season when the Terps went 13-3. The program reached the 650 wins milestone with a 16-12 win over Army in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Byrd Stadium.

• Since 2000, Maryland is 58-19 for a .753 win percentage. In the decade of the 1990s, Maryland recorded its most wins in any decade with a 95-47 record. The .669 winning percentage matched Maryland's win percentage of the 1980s when the Terps went 83-41 and also compiled a .669 win percentage.

Maryland In Season Openers
• Maryland has a 75-3-1 (.956) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1924 season. The Terps have won their last 11 openers and 19 of the last 20, with the only loss coming to Duke in 1993, when it fell to Duke 9-5 on March 6.

• After losing their 1925 opener to Yale, 5-3, the Terps went on to win 40 consecutive season openers from 1926 through 1967. The streak was broken when Maryland tied Princeton, 6-6, in the 1968 opener. Following the deadlock, Maryland went on to win its next 14 openers, giving the Terps a 54-0-1 record over a 57-year span (Maryland did not field a team in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II.)

11 straight in Season Openers
• The Terps enter the 2005 season riding a 11-game winning streak in season openers. Five of those wins came against Villanova (1994-98) and the last six over Denver, Mount St. Mary's, Air Force, Hobart, Duke and Georgetown. Over the 11-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 159-56 (an average score of 14.5-5) in those games.

• The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 11 years. Maryland has not allowed an opponent to score 10 or more goals in a season opener since Syracuse beat the Terps, 16-13 on March 9, 1983.

McGlone & Walters Up For Tewaaraton Award
• Juniors Bill McGlone and Joe Walters were recently named to the 2005 Tewaaraton Trophy watch list. This preseason list highlights the players to watch, as all NCAA Division I, II and III players vie for the most coveted and prestigious award in varsity lacrosse, the Tewaaraton Trophy.

• Walters, a semifinalist for the award as a sophomore, scored 46 goals and tallied 22 assists for 68 points in 2004 and was a USILA first team All-American and the ACC Player of the Year.

• McGlone, one of the top midfielders in the country, was second on the team in goals and points in 2004 with 25 and 36, respectively.

• The Tewaaraton Trophy is awarded each year to the top male and female varsity lacrosse player, as chosen by the selection committee. The fifth annual award will be given at a banquet on Thursday, June 2. Ten finalists (five male, five female) will be invited to the banquet for the announcement. The event will take place in Washington D.C. at the National Geographic Society headquarters.

2005 Captains: I. Healy, Hereth, McGlone, Webb
• Four players have been named team captains for the 2005 season. The quartet, which was voted on by the team during the fall season, consists of seniors Ian Healy, Tyler Hereth and Gavin Webb, along with junior Bill McGlone.

• Healy, a senior from Great Falls, Va., scored nine goals and 11 points from the midfield in 2004, including a four-game points streak with two-goal games against No. 13 Penn on May 8 and No. 14 Army on May 15 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

• Hereth, a senior defender from Glastonbury, Conn., was a starter in 2004 at the long-stick defensive midfielder position. Earned his first career point on an assist off a face-off wing pass to Joe Walters vs. No. 14 Army on May 15 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

• McGlone, a junior midfielder from Swarthmore, Pa., was second on the team in points (36) and goals (25) in 2004. Despite not starting a game, McGlone scored in every game for the Terps for a 16-game scoring streak. He had an incredible two-game run against No. 13 Penn and No. 14 Army, totaling four goals and seven assists for 11 points.

• Webb, a senior defender from Columbus, Ohio, was a key contributor in 2004 as the fourth close defender and man-down specialist. He set career highs for groundballs (29) and caused turnovers (8), playing in 16 games with two starts.