Aug. 31, 2005

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Head Coach Sasho Cirovski
On his attitude on the 2005 season:
I'm as enthusiastic even more so than ever in my career. The incredible success over the final three years but the lack of the final fulfillment has me juiced up. I know that our senior core group of players have had unparalleled commitment. They've all accelerated their graduation track to get done in three and a half years which means they've stuck around all summer and worked as hard individually and collectively as any group that I've ever had.

On the goalkeeper situation:
Right now it's very, very close. I think at this point Craig Salvati is a little more comfortable and confident with the team. Craig has been a tremendous leader for this team. Chris Seitz is getting better every day. He's an immense talent.

On senior transfer Marc Burch:
He's an incredibly long way. He's a striker, and he's a set-up striker, which is a great compliment to Jason Garey and I think those two could form a great tandem. Unfortunately, they haven't both been healthy at the same time to get any rhythm going, but I think it's going to come. Marc is a very hard-working player and I think he's going to be a real asset to us this year.

On the seniors on the back line:
It's huge since we will have a little bit of an inexperienced goalkeeper playing in there. Down the center with Mike (Dello-Russo) and Kenney (Bertz) they have very nice complimentary skills. You have the big and strong Kenney Bertz and the swift, smooth Dello-Russo. That's a nice tandem there. And obviously Chris Lancos sees and reads the game about as well as any back in the country and I think he's the best attacking back in the nation.

On who concerns him in the ACC:
That's a really tough question. The obvious answer is Duke because they are very young and brought a lot players back and are going to be a force to be reckoned with. There's always some surprises in the ACC.

On what he's looking for out of the freshmen:
We are looking for a little bit of everything from them. We need some immediate help in some places and we are looking for them to get better daily and to be prepared when their opportunity comes. At the same time, we are looking for the ones who are not starting every day to make the team better. There are a lot of different roles that they have to fill.

On bringing a large number of newcomers in:
When you look at it, between last year's class and this year's class, we have 70 or 80 percent of the team is freshmen and sophomores. At one point in Akron against Connecticut I thought we had an under-19 team out there. There is a lot of bright, young talent. Some of them are ready to play now, some will be ready in a few weeks, and some might take a few years. But they are all good enough to contribute here at some point in time.

On striving for a national championship:
It's important to me and very important to the program and all of the players that played here before that we crown ourselves with a national championship. But, I don't think if it never comes that it will diminish what we've accomplished here because I'm proud of what we've done. I'm a competitive person and I'm going to put everything I can into it to make sure that one day we do hold a national championship trophy.

Maryland senior forward Jason Garey:
On his decision to return to Maryland for his senior season:
It really wasn't that difficult of a decision. I thought about it a few times and had talks with Sash and my parents and people that have gone on, but it was the guys on the team and wanting to finish what our class started three years ago. I'm also going to get my degree in December and that's really important to me as well.

On thinking about winning a national title:
I think about it every day, but we just have to out there and start with the first game on Friday and take it one at a time as we've always done, and with a little luck we'll get past that hurdle we've been stopped at for three years.

On another scoring threat emerging this season:
Marc Burch has been here all spring and all summer and he's been playing really well and hopefully he can score some goals along with the midfielders. Teams are going to put a couple of guys to watch me for the game and hopefully those guys will step up.

On getting over the hump to win a national title:
It's tough because I've been asked that question for three years now. Every year I say the same thing, you need a little luck, but a lot of times you make your own luck. We just need to get to a place where, if we can get to that spot again, put a game out of reach.

On confidence on the goalkeeper:
It affects the backs more than me because they're the ones back there trying to prevent shots, but Craig's been here forever. He's played in plenty of games and we think he's ready to go, and Seitz has played on the national team so he's been in big situations, so I'm not really worried about the goalkeeper situation at all. I'm worried about scoring goals.

On the affects of Hurricane Katrina on his family in Louisiana:
My house is all right, right now. My neighbor's house had a lot of damage, but we're thankfully to the west of New Orleans so we didn't get the brunt of it but a lot of my extended family that lives in New Orleans is at my house right now and they're not sure what they're going to go back to.

Senior defender Kenney Bertz
On trying to get back to the College Cup:
Our goal is to definitely get back there and to win the whole thing. We have a good core that is coming back and has been there before and we know what it takes.

On the relationship between the defenders and the goalkeepers:
For all of us, we really got to know Craig a little more on the field. We got to see his tendencies and his ability as well. Through this preseason we've gotten to know Seitz more too. The relationship is good all-around. Whoever is in goal it's going to be solid either way. It's just a matter of them having their confidence because we are going to have confidence in them.