Aug. 31, 2005

College Park, Md. - The Notre Dame Invitational
• The No. 25 Maryland Terrapin women's soccer team hits the road for the first time in 2005 at the Notre Dame Invitational with games vs. No. 9 Connecticut on Friday, Sept. 2, and No. 1 Notre Dame on Sunday, Sept. 4.

• The Terps have faired well in early season tournaments on the road in each of the past three seasons. In 2004 Maryland defeated South Carolina and No. 3 UCLA at the Virginia Soccer Classic. Maryland began the 2003 season by dropping a 2-1 decision to No. 23 Washington and beat Washington State 3-0 at the Arena Sports ACC/Pac 10 Challence. In 2002 at the UConn Classic, the host Huskies beat the Terrapins 3-1, but the Terps routed Fordam 5-0 to finish 1-1.

Scouting UConn
• The ninth-ranked Huskies are 1-1 on the season after splitting a pair of games at the Penn State Tournament last weekend. UConn, the 2004 Big East champions, defeated Hofstra 3-0 on Aug. 26 behind goals from Meghan Schnur, Elizabeth Eng and Maria Picard. Connecticut dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 8 Penn State on Aug. 28 in the tournament's featured game. The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but UConn rallied in the second half to close the defecit to one, but were unable to knot the score. Kristi Lefebvre netted the lone Huskie goal.

• Connecticut is coming off a remarkable 2004 season that saw the Huskies win the Big East tournament and compile an 18-7-1 record. UConn returns 17 letterwinners from that squad that advanced to the NCAA's Sweet 16.

• Head Coach Len Tsantiris is in his 25th season at the helm of the Huskie program and has a record of 417-111-27 (.776).

Scouting Notre Dame
• The top-ranked Fighting Irish have gotten off to an explosive start to the 2005 season, beating New Hampshire on Aug. 26 11-0 and Vermont 6-0 on Aug. 28. The 11 goals vs. New Hampshire marked the first time ND scored 11 goals since beating West Virginia 11-0 in 1996. Freshman Kerri Hanks scored three goals and added an assist in her college debut against New Hampshire and followed that up with a four goal game vs. Vermont. Senior Katie Thorlakson set a school record with eight points (two goals, four assists) vs. NH.

• Notre Dame is the 2004 NCAA champions, having defeated UCLA on penalty kicks to win the title. The Irish compiled a 25-1-1 record last season, including a perfect 9-0 record in the Big East. Their only loss on the season came to UConn in the finals of the Big East tournament.

• Head Coach Randy Waldrum is in his seventh season at Notre Dame and has compiled a record of 121-20-5 (.846). Overall, he is in his 24th year as a head coach with a record of 304-125-24 (.698).

A Quick Look At The Terps
• Maryland is 1-0-1 after the season's opening weekend, marking the second-straight season the Terps have that record after two games. Last season, the Terrapins beat Towson (1-0 OT) and tied Williams & Mary (1-1).

• In the 2005 opener, Maryland dominated Towson, outshooting the Tigers 26-2, but could not get the ball into the net. The Terps' defense shut off the Towson attack and goalkepper Nikki Resnick was challenged only once in the game.

• Sophomore Kelly Rozumalski ended the scoring drought at 140 minutes, when she took a pass from senior All-American Mallory Mahar and scored the first game-winning goal of her career in Maryland's 4-0 rout of Rhode Island. Mahar tied her career high for assists with two when she assisted Melissa Anderson's goal for a 2-0 Terrapin lead. Senior captain Kimmy Francis scored the team's third goal on a header off a long cross from junior defender Sarah Sample. Francis and Mahar each assisted freshman Kimmy Buntings' first collegiate goal in the game's 59th minute to cap three-point games.

The Maryland-UConn Series
• This will be the first meeting between the two schools since the second game of the 2002 season.

• Maryland is 0-2-1 all-time vs. Connecticut, with the Huskies outscoring the Terps 8-5 in the three contests.

• Mallory Mahar and Kimmy Francis are the only current Terps to register points vs. Connecticut with each earning an assist on the Terrapins' lone goal in 2002. Simone Dekker is the only other current Maryland player to see action vs. the Huskies.

The Last Time vs. UConn
STORRS, Conn (Sept. 1, 2002) - The No. 9 Connecticut Huskies captured the championship of the 2002 Adidas UConn Classic with a 3-1 victory of the Maryland Terrapins in women's soccer at Marrone Stadium.

"We had a slow start in our first real test of the season," said head coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski. "They are a potent team and they have a very good attack. But I think we figured it out in the second half. We pressured them and built some confidence."

UConn jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of early goals just 28 seconds apart. Kristen Graczyk scored on a header off a pass from Jennifer Sullivan 10:47 into the match. The Huskies followed that with a goal by Jennifer Gjertsen, 11:15 into the game.

After being outshot 9-7 in the first half, the more inspired Terps came out on the attack in the second half. Maryland took 11 of the first 12 shots in the second half with 10 of those coming in the first 12 minutes of the half.

Maryland's offense was finally rewarded as Audra Poulin knocked in a rebound off a header by Mallory Mahar in the 56th minute to make it 2-1. The play started with a corner kick by Kimmy Francis, who was credited with her third assist of the tournament.

The Huskies regained the two-goal lead as Gjertsen scored on a pretty play off a cross from Sarah Popper for the second time in the game to make it 3-1 in the 73rd minute.

The 11-player All-Tournament team featured three Terps: Francis, Mahar and defender Lindsay Givens.

The Maryland-Notre Dame Series
• This will be the first meeting between the two schools since the 2002 season and the first-ever meeting at Alumni Field. The Terps played at Notre Dame in the 1996 NCAA Tournament, but standing water on Alumni Field forced the game to be moved the Saint Mary's Soccer Field. ND won that game 2-0 to advance to the NCAA semifinals.

• Maryland is 0-2-0 all-time vs. Notre Dame, with the Irish outsoring the Terps 7-2 in the two contests.

• Mallory Mahar is the only current Terps to score a point vs. Notre Dame, having scored the Terps' first goal in a 5-2 defeat on Sept. 15, 2002. Simone Dekker and Kimmy Francis are the only other current Maryland player to see action vs. the Irish.

The Last Time vs. Notre Dame
COLLEGE PARK, Md.(Sept. 15, 2002) - The 2002 Maryland/FILA Classic ended with a second-half scoring outburst as No. 11 Notre Dame came back from a two-goal deficit to defeat host No. 25 Maryland 5-2.

Although Maryland struck twice within five minutes to grab a two-goal lead in the 55th minute, the Fighting Irish (4-2) peppered the Terrapin defense with 13 second-half shots and a flurry of scoring opportunities. Junior forward Amanda Guertin paced the Notre Dame comeback with the go-ahead goal and two assists.

Candace Chapman's 65th minute blast sparked the Irish onslaught and cut the Terrapin lead to one.

Tournament MVP Melissa Tancredi and Guertin scored in less than one minute to give ND the lead in the 79th minute, 3-2. Tancredi added her second goal of the game in the 87th minute and Randi Scheller's fourth tally of the season two minutes later ended any chance for a late Terrapin comeback.

After a slow first half that saw the teams combine for just eight shots, the Terrapins came out swinging on goals by freshman Mallory Mahar and Katie Ludwig.

Mahar scored the Terps' first goal in the 51st minute, as she put home a beautiful header off a long throw-in from defender Lindsay Givens. Maryland continued to attack and capitalized when Ludwig was credited with her fourth goal of the year in the 55th minute as her hard shot deflected off a Notre Dame defender and past Irish keeper Erika Bohn.

Playing The Best
• Once again, the Terps boast one of the nation's most competitive schedules. The Terps take on eight teams in the preseason NSCAA poll including three of the top four and five of the top 10. The Terps are at No. 1 Notre Dame (Sept. 4), host No. 2 North Carolina (Oct. 2), at No. 4 Virginia (Oct. 23), host No. 8 Penn State (Sept. 16), vs. No. 9 UConn at the Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 2), at No. 12 Duke (Oct. 16), host No. 16 Boston College (Oct. 29), and host No. 21 Wake Forest (Sept. 30). Three other Maryland opponents also received votes: Clemson (Sept. 22), Villanova (Sept. 8) and Yale (Sept. 18).

• 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.

• LiveStats: Follow Terps games live during the 2005 season on your computer with Gametracker at www.umterps.com.