• The fourth-ranked Maryland Terrapins travel to Charlottesville, Va., to battle No. 3 Virginia in a pivotal ACC game. The game will be the Terps' final ACC regular season game of the season, but it will be just the first for the Cavaliers. Face-off is set for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 2, at Klockner Stadium.

• Maryland enters the game in second place with a 1-1 record in the ACC this season. A win will keep alive the possibility of a tie for the conference regular season title. With a victory Maryland would be 2-1 in the league and would need help, ironically, from Virginia when the Cavaliers play at Duke on April 16. The No. 2 Blue Devils currently sit at 2-0 in the league with just the game vs. Virginia standing in their way of the regular season title.

• The Terps, who are coming off a convincing 9-4 win over No. 19 North Carolina last Saturday at Byrd Stadium, are lead by the third-winningest coach in college lacrosse, Dave Cottle, who boasts a career record of 220-83 (.726). He is in his fourth season at the helm of the Terrapin program and has led the Terps to a 39-13 (.750) record.

• No. 3 Virginia, the 2003 NCAA champion, comes into the game off of a 9-7 loss at No. 1 Johns Hopkins last Saturday. The Cavaliers are coached by Dom Starsia, who ranked fifth among active coaches with 237 career wins.

Top 5 Terp Tidbits
• Maryland holds an all-time record of 43-29 vs. Virginia.

• Maryland has held opponents to just seven goals in the first quarter through seven games, while scoring 19.

• Of the Terps' 75 goals, 51 (68%) have come from juniors, including 18 and 16 by Joe Walters and Bill McGlone, respectively.

• Thirteen different Terps have scored goals through seven games, with three having scored points in every game.

• Harry Alford has a 65.3 save pct. in the Terps' last five games.

Terps Among ACC, NCAA Stat Leaders
• The Terps as a team are ranked among the nation's best in several statistics and have several players at the top the ACC stat charts as well.

• The Terps are 10th in the nation in goals per game at 10.71, which is third in the conference.

• On defense, Maryland is 14th in the nation in scoring defense, which is also third the ACC.

• The Terps are also 12th in the country in goal-scoring margin at +3.29 per game. Virginia leads the nation at +6.57.

• Individually, Joe Walters is 11th in points per game at 3.86 (third in the ACC). He is also ranked 12th in goals per game at 2.57 (tied for fourth in the ACC).

• David Tamberrino ranks among the nation's best in face-off percentage (12th, .629) and in groundballs per game (18th, 4.71). In the conference those totals rank first and second, respectively.

• In goal, Harry Alford is third in the nation in save percentage at 65.5, which is also the best in the ACC. He is also 15th in country in goals against average with a 7.22 GAA, which is third in the ACC. Alford is also leading the ACC in saves per game at 13.57.

• Checking other ACC stat charts, Bill McGlone ranks eighth in goals per game (2.29), ninth in points per game (2.86), and is tied for third in man-up goals per game (0.43). Joe Walters is also tied for third in the league in assists per game (1.29), while Xander Ritz is tied for eighth in that category (1.00). Andrew Schwartzman is tied for first with two game-winning goals. Along with Tamberrino, freshman Will Dalton is among the conference leaders in face-off percentage (fourth, 50.0).

• Three Terps are among the top six in shots per game in the conference: Walters (2nd, 8.43), Brendan Healy (4th, 7.29) and McGlone (6th, 6.43).

The Maryland-Virginia Rivalry
• The Maryland-Virginia rivalry is the third-longest in Terrapin lacrosse history with Maryland holding a 43-29 advantage, dating to the first game -- a Terps' 10-1 victory on April 24, 1926. The 43 wins are the third-highest number of victories Maryland has against any team. The Terps have defeated Duke 52 times and Navy 48 times.

• The rivals met twice every year for six years in a row from 1996 to 2001 before the streak ended in 2002. They continued with the double meetings in 2003 as the Terps won in Charlottesville on March 29, 8-7. Virginia returned the favor beating the Terps 14-4 in the NCAA Semifinals at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on May 24. The two teams met twice again last season as Maryland dominated Virginia 11-2 in College Park on April 3. They met again in the ACC Championship game with the Terps coming out on top, 12-11, in Chapel Hill, N.C., on April 23.

• The Terps have now won two ACC Tournament titles with both championship victories coming over Virginia. Maryland captured its first ACC Tournament championship defeating Virginia, 14-11, in Charlottesville on April 19, 1998, the same year Maryland won its last regular-season title with a win over Virginia, 14-9, on March 28.

• Last year's regular season meeting between Maryland and Virginia saw the Terps enter the game as the No. 1 team in the country, the first time Maryland had earned the top ranking since 2001. Maryland lived up to its billing, humiliating the Cavaliers 11-2 in College Park. Xander Ritz scored three goals and assisted on another three, while Joe Walters added a goal and three assists to pace the Terrapin offense. The game was never really in doubt as the Terps opened the game with a 5-0 run. The Maryland defense was stellar all afternoon, holding Virginia's top seven scorers without a single point.

• The Cavaliers would not go so quietly in the 2004 ACC title game. The Terps built a 12-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter, behind a career-high six goals from Joe Walters, who would be named Tournament MVP. But the Wahoos scored four goals in the fourth and shutdown the Maryland offense to close the gap to 12-11. Virginia's comeback ran short giving the Terps just their second ACC Tournament championship.

• In the 2003 regular-season game, the last time the two schools played in Charlottesville, No. 7 Maryland scored seven consecutive goals and kept Virginia scoreless for a span of 33:06 on its way to the 8-7 victory over the No. 2 Cavaliers. Maryland won at Klockner Stadium for the first time since the 1998 ACC Championship game which it defeated the host Cavaliers, 14-11. It was also the Terps' first regular-season win at Klockner Stadium and first in Charlottesville, Va. since 1989. The Terps held off a furious comeback as Virginia scored the final three goals of the game including two in the final 1:39 to come within one as Joe Yevoli scored with 1:23 left. But goalie Danny McCormick was tremendous in the final minute of action as he stopped Virginia's leading goal scorer John Christmas on a point- blank shot with 49 seconds left and started a Maryland clear as the Terps preserved the win. Attacker Joe Walters racked up a hat trick and added an assist for a team-high four points.

• During the 1990s, Virginia won nine of the 16 meetings. Half of those games were decided by one goal with each team winning four of the cliff-hangers.

• The Cavaliers hold a 4-5 record over the Terps in the 2000 decade. Virginia won the first three meetings of this decade, but Maryland has rallied to win three of the last four games between the two schools.

Individual Terps vs. Virginia
• Seven Terps have posted points against Virginia over their careers. Joe Walters leads the way with 15 points on 10 goals and five assists, including a six-goal, one-assist effort in last year's 12-11 win in the ACC Tournament finals.

• Walters and Bill McGlone are each riding 23-game goal and point scoring streaks. The last time they did not score a goal in a game was on May 24, 2003 vs. Virginia in the NCAA semifinals in Baltimore.

• Xander Ritz had an amazing three-goal, three-assist effort in the 2004 regular season meeting. He followed that up by scoring twice to help the Terps win the 2004 ACC Tournament title.

• In addition to the seven Terps who have scored points, Thomas Alford and David Tamberrino have taken face-offs vs. the Cavaliers, while back-up goalie Teddy Murphy saw late time in the 2003 NCAA semifinal meeting between the two schools.

Coaching Match-Up
• Maryland head coach Dave Cottle is currently the third winningest active coach in the country with a 72.6 win percentage with a record of 220-83. He is also 39-13 as head coach of the Terps. Starsia has won 71.0 percent of his games at Brown and Virginia (237-97 overall record) and is fourth on the list. In the total wins among active coaches Starsia is fifth and Cottle is eighth.

• Cottle has a 6-7 record vs. Virginia. He went 3-5 vs. Virginia while he was the coach at Loyola, but none of the games came against a Dom Starsia-led team. Cottle is 3-2 against the Wahoos while at Maryland. Prior to 2002, the last time Cottle coached against Virginia came in 1991, finishing a run of eight games in a nine-year span.

• Both Starsia and Cottle began their head coaching careers in 1983, Cottle at Loyola and Starsia at Brown. Despite both coaches running major programs for the last 20 years, they have only coached against each other nine times with Starsia winning five of the games, including his last game at Brown, a 19-12 win in the NCAA Tournament first round in 1992 -- the only other time they have coached against each other in the NCAA Tournament prior to the 2003 season.

Harry Saves The Day
• In his first career start sophomore goalie Harry Alford stopped an amazing 25 Georgetown shots to help lead the Terps to a 13-6 victory over the No. 5 Hoyas. The 25 saves were the most by a Maryland goalie since the 1997 season when Sean Keenan made 26 saves in a 12-4 win over Rutgers.

• Alford's 25-save performance is the highest total in season opener dating back to the 1997 season. The previous best for saves in a season opener since 1997 was 17 by Danny McCormick vs. Duke in 2003.

• For his efforts vs. the Hoyas, Alford collected Inside Lacrosse's National Player of the Week honors, as well being named the ACC player of the week.

• Alford turned in another 20-save performance one month later on March 26, in Maryland's 9-4 win over No. 19 North Carolina in College Park. Alford made 12 saves in the third quarter alone.

• For his efforts against the Tar Heels, in addition to stopping 12 shots in the Dartmouth game, Alford won his second ACC player of the week award, the first multi-time winner of 2005.

Defense Proves To Be Strong
• Heading into the 2005 season the big question mark surrounding the Terps was their defense. The entire starting close defense from 2004, consisting National Defensive Player of the Year Lee Zink and All-Americans Chris Passavia and Dave Wagner, Team MVP short-stick D-middie Paul Gillette, and All-America goalie Tim McGinnis were lost to graduation. Taking that group's place figured to be no easy task, but it's proving to be easier than previously imagined. Take a look at how this year's defense stacks up:

• Similar to last season, Maryland has held opponents scoreless for long stretches of game time. Through seven games in 2004, the Terps kept opponents scoreless for stretches of 20 or more minutes four times. This year Maryland has also done it on four occasions, and was just seconds away from keeping the high-powered Duke offense off the board for more than 20 minutes.

• Against Georgetown, the Hoyas scored to take a 1-0 lead at the 10:02 mark of the first quarter. Maryland's defense, lead by sophomore goalie Harry Alford, who totaled 25 saves in the 13-6 victory, didn't allow the fifth-ranked Hoyas another goal until 4:34 in the second quarter, a total time of 20:26. Maryland kept Georgetown off the board for a 15-minute stretch following that goal, while the offense built an 11-2 lead. The Hoyas didn't register their third goal of the game until 4:32 in the third quarter, a span of 15:02.

• Maryland pitched a shutout for the first 19:34 of the Duke game, coming just 26 seconds short of the 20-minute mark.

• Against Towson, the Terps held the Tigers to five goals (they had been averaging 10.6 in their first three games) and held their starting attack to just one goal and one assist on a remarkable four shots. The Maryland defense turned up the intensity when Towson took a 3-2 lead at 12:48 of the second quarter. The Terrapin defense held the Tigers scoreless for the next 27:38, while the offense built a 6-3 lead. Towson pulled to within one goal, 6-5, at 11:55 of the fourth, but Maryland only allowed the Tigers two shots over the final 11:55 and finished with a 9-5 win over the ninth-ranked team in the country.

• In the Dartmouth loss, the Big Green tied the game at 1-1 at the 3:22 mark of the first quarter. The Maryland "D" held strong for the remainder of the first half with Harry Alford only have to make one save in the second quarter. Dartmouth didn't get on the board again until 12:55 in the third, a span of 20:27.

• The Terrapin defense held the 19th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels scoreless for the first 25 minutes of the Terps' 9-4 win. The four goals allowed was the lowest total for the Terps since limiting Virginia to two goals in Maryland's 11-2 win on April 3, 2004.

• Sophomore Steve Whittenberg, a transfer from Air Force, has been the model of consistency for the Terps. A starter in all six games, Whittenberg has picked up four, five, four, six, and three groundballs, respectively, in the team's first five games. He has also caused seven turnovers this season.

• Short-stick defensive midfielders Travis Holmes and Ryan Lang have been stellar early on this season. They have sliced and diced their opponents, combining to force 11 turnovers in seven games while scooping up 21 groundballs as well. The duo showed their offensive side in the Terps' 14-10 win at No. 18 Bucknell when Lang assisted Holmes' goal at the 1:14 mark of the third quarter. That goal sparked a 6-0 Maryland run that sealed the game for the Terrapins.

• Another factor in the Maryland defense has been the emergence of long-pole defensive midfielder Ryan Clarke, who is leads the team with nine caused turnovers and is fourth with 22 groundballs.

• In goal, Harry Alford has been stellar, stopping all manner of shots. He's played all but four minutes for the Terps, making 95 saves with a save percentage of 65.5 and a 7.22 GAA.

Face-Off Turn Around
• Last year the face-off circle was not kind to the Terps, who were only able to control 46.4 percent of 362 draws. This season Maryland has turned things around, winning 86 of 150 attempts - a 57.3 winning percentage.

• Leading the way for Maryland is junior face-off specialist David Tamberrino. A reserve face-off guy last year (16-32/50%), Tamberrino has taken 89 face-offs through six games and has won 56 - a remarkable 62.9 winning percentage, which ranks first in the ACC and 18th in the nation.

• Thomas Alford is also enjoying a breakthrough season in the face-off circle. The sophomore, who won 42-89 draws in 2004, has won 20 of 41 (.488) this season.

• Freshman Will Dalton used his 6-5, 245-pound frame to his advantage in the Terps' 9-4 win over North Carolina, winning six of nine face-offs, all in the second half to help Maryland pull away from the Tar Heels.

Streaking Terps
• Two Terps have scored goals in all seven games this season, while another has scored at least one point in every game so far.

• Joe Walters and Bill McGlone each entered the season with 16 game point and goal scoring streaks. Those streaks are now up to 23 for both Terps after the first seven games this season.

• McGlone didn't waste any time finding the Hoya net, scoring the first of his three goals on the day at 2:16 in the first quarter to tie the score at 1-1. In the Duke game McGlone again netted the first goal of the game to give the Terps a 1-0 lead. He would then pick up his first assist of the season on Michael Phipps' goal to up the lead to 2-0. McGlone would once again score the first Terp goal, for the third straight game, in the 9-5 win at No. 9 Towson. He would add two more for his fourth career hat trick. At Bucknell, McGlone didn't scored Maryland's first goal of the game, but the third to give the Terps a 3-1 lead at that point. He added another goal (man-up) in fourth quarter and assisted on two goals for his first four-point game of the season. The junior didn't waste anytime vs. UMBC, scoring two of the Terps' first three goals in the first three minutes of the game. He would go on to score a career high five goals vs. the Retrievers. The Dartmouth goal proved to be a different story, as McGlone came off the bench due to a minor injury. He only managed two shots, but put the first one past the Big Green goalie to extend his point and goal scoring streaks. Still nursing an injury, McGlone kept his streak alive in the UNC game by scoring a goal at the 8:35 mark of the third quarter.

• Walters kept his goal scoring streak alive at 9:45 in the second quarter vs. Georgetown with an unassisted goal to give Maryland a 2-1 lead, a lead they would never surrender on the way to a 13-6 victory. Against Duke, Walters took a more aggressive approach and picked up his 19th career hat trick, including two man-up goals. A frustrating shooting day at Towson couldn't keep Walters out of the net. The national player of the year candidate scored twice and assisted on another goal for a three point afternoon. It was another three-point effort for Walters in the 14-10 win at No. 18 Bucknell to extend his goal and point scoring streaks. Walters picked up an assist on a Dave Matz goal midway through the second quarter, but didn't score a goal until 3:41 in the third to give Maryland a 7-4 lead. He would go on to score his second of the game in the fourth as part of a 6-0 Terps' run to put the game away. The UMBC game saw Walters tie career highs with six goals and one assist. In the loss to Dartmouth, Walters scored twice and added two assists for a four-point game. North Carolina tried to shut Walters down, but the All-American still managed to score two goals in the 9-4 win.

• Xander Ritz is the only other Terp to score a least a point in each of the six games. Ritz scored a goal in the Georgetown win and had an assist vs. Duke. He had his best game of the season in the Towson victory with two goals and two assists for his first four-point game of 2005. At Bucknell he assisted McGlone's first quarter goal to extend his point scoring streak to four. Against UMBC he assisted McGlone's third goal of the game and tallied another assist on Ian Healy's second goal of the season. He had another two-point game vs. Dartmouth, but this time those points came on goals, including the only man-up goal of the game and a goal at 1:22 of the fourth quarter to pull the Terps within a goal of the Big Green. Ritz kept his scoring streak alive in the UNC victory, assisting Michael Phipps' first quarter goal.

Terps' 80th Season of Lacrosse
• The Terps boast an all-time record of 655-210-4, 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-win milestone with a 16-12 win over Army in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Byrd Stadium.

• Since 2000, Maryland is 63-21 for a .750 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.

McGlone And 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.