March 17, 2006

College Park, Md. - The No. 1 Maryland men's lacrosse team (3-1) will look to rebound from its first loss of the season with a game at intra-state rival UMBC. The game is set for a 1:00 p.m. start at UMBC Stadium. The game is scheduled to be broadcast on WMUC and can be heard at www.wmucsports.com.

• Maryland enters the game off of a heartbreaking 7-6 loss in double-overtime to Bucknell on Tuesday evening. The Terrapins are 3-1 in games following their first loss of the season since Coach Dave Cottle took over the program in 2002.

• UMBC is 2-2 on the season. The Retrievers have dropped their last two games after opening 2006 with back-to-back wins over Brown and Air Force. After winning at Brown, 6-4, and winning its home opener over the Falcons, 9-5, Coach Don Zimmerman's squad lost at Johns Hopkins, 12-7, before travelling to Penn, where the Quakers pulled out a 12-11 win in overtime. Zimmerman has an all-time record of 155-97 (.615) and is in his 13th year at UMBC where he has compiled a record of 82-81 (.503).

Top 5 Terp Tidbits
• Maryland leads the all-time series with UMBC 22-4.

• The Terps' are 12-1 vs. the Retreivers on the road, with the lone defeat coming in 1998.

• Of the Terps' 53 points (33 G, 20 A) in 2006, 41 (77.4%) have been produced by seniors, including 16 by Xander Ritz.

• Joe Walters leads current Terps in scoring vs. UMBC with 15 points on 12 goals and three assists.

• In Maryland's last two games, senior face-off specialist David Tamberrino has won 21 of 34 (61.8%) at the X. In 2005 vs. UMBC, Tamberrino was 14 of 18, tying his career high for wins in a game.

Terps As No. 1
• The Terps took over the top spot in Inside Lacrosse's Media Poll last week after beating former No. 1 Duke, 8-7 in OT last Saturday in Durham, N.C. This marks the eighth time Maryland has earned the No. 1 ranking since 1986.

• Overall, Maryland has played 22 games as the No. 1-ranked team and is 14-8 in those games.

• The last time the Terps were the nation's top team was in April of 2004. Maryland's two-week run at the top of the polls ended with a 9-6 loss to No. 4 Navy in College Park.

• The ranking is also the earliest the Terps have achieved the No. 1 ranking in a season. Previous to this week, the earliest Maryland was ranked No. 1 was March 26, 2001.

• The longest Maryland has held on to the No. 1 ranking was seven weeks in 1987. That streak came to an end with a 13-8 loss to No. 4 Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Semifinals.

Coaching Match-Up
• Head coach Dave Cottle has recorded a 16-2 career record against UMBC, 12-2 while he served as the head coach at Loyola. Prior to his 4-0 run at Maryland vs. UMBC, he last faced UMBC as he led his Loyola team to a 19-8 victory in 1996. Cottle has won every game against UMBC since 1988, including the last five against current UMBC coach Don Zimmerman. Overall, Cottle has a 229-88 record in 24 years at Maryland and Loyola. He is 48-18 with the Terps in four-plus seasons.

• Saturday's game pits two of the top seven active winningest coaches in Dave Cottle (229-88) and Don Zimmerman (155-97). Cottle's win percentage of 72.2 ranks third among active coaches. Zimmerman's win percentage of 61.5 is ninth among active coaches.

Gorski Faces Old Team
• Maryland volunteer assistant coach Steve Gorski, who works primarily with the goalies, lettered at UMBC from 1993-96 playing goalie and defense. He made 35 appearances with the Retrievers, starting 14 games in goal and stands 10th all-time in career saves with 224.

The Maryland-UMBC Series
• Maryland holds a 22-4 lifetime advantage in 26 meetings with state rival UMBC. Maryland has won the last six games, 16-10 last season at Byrd Stadium, 9-4 in 2004 at UMBC, 15-8 in College Park in 2003, 19-9 in 2002; 14-4 in the 2001 home finale at Ludwig Field and four seasons ago, 15-7 in Catonsville on May 6, 2000. Those wins ended a two-year run of detrimental Terp losses to the Retrievers in 1998 and 1999.

• UMBC upset the then-No. 1 Terps in the regular-season finale in 1998, 12-8 at UMBC. They repeated the upset in the 1999 finale, winning 7-6 in College Park in the last game between the teams at Byrd Stadium. Prior to that pair of losses, Maryland had won six meetings in a row from 1992-1997.

• Over the last six wins, Maryland has outscored UMBC 88-42, for an average score of 14.7-7.0.

• Last season Joe Walters tied career highs with six goals and seven points to lead No. 4 Maryland to a 16-10 win over the Retrievers at Byrd Stadium. First team All-American Bill McGlone also had a career day for the Terps, setting his career high with five goals in the victory. Brendan Healy scored twice and added a pair of assists, while long pole Ryan Clarke set his career high with six groundballs. The Terrapins dominated possession, thanks in large part to winning 20 of 29 face-offs. David Tamberrino won 14 of 18, tying his personal best for wins in a game.

• In 2004 Joe Walters lead the Terps to a hard-fought 9-4 win with a natural hat trick in the second quarter. The Maryland defense was sensational, holding UMBC scoreless for 29:12 bridging the second through the fourth quarters. Terp goalie Tim McGinnis made 13 saves, including eight in the fourth quarter to preserve the victory.

• In the 2003 game in College Park, Mike Mollot and Joe Walters each had three goals while former Retriever Justin Smith had two goals and two assists in his first game vs. his former team.

• This will be just the third time the two teams will play in the month of March. The 2003 game on April 25 was the first time since 1977, that Maryland-UMBC game was not be played in May. The UMBC game had been the last contest on Maryland's regular-season schedule for the 13 years, dating 1990 through 2002, with Maryland winning 10 of 13 finales.

UMBC-Maryland Connections
• Separated by less than 30 miles, it's no coincidence that there are 16 former high school teammates that will be reuinited on the field today.

• Not just high school teammates, the Gallagher family will have rooting interest on both sides of the field as big brother Andy, a UMBC junior attackman, will meet up with Danny, a freshman attackman at Maryland for the first time in college.

• Calvert Hall, Mt. St. Joseph's and St. Mary's high schools will be represented by a combined 10 former student-athletes. Maryland's Jeff Reynolds will face fellow Calvert Hall alums Jeremy Blevins and Brandon Hastings. Jason Carter and Will Dalton will be reunited with fellow 2004 St. Mary's grad, UMBC sophomore Conor Devlin. James Hyland is also a former St. Mary's grad. Mt. St. Joseph's will have Maryland's Kevin Slafkosky and UMBC's Brandon Mathias and Brendan Mundorf representing the Gaels.

• Severn will have Terrapin junior Michael Phipps competing against freshman defender John Eckert.

• Today's game will not just reunite high school teammate, but it will be a mini-reunion of CCBC-Essex lacrosse. Maryland's Jon Beard, the 2005 NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year, will be reunited with former Knights Travis Begay, Dan Cormack, Evan Key, Josh Porcell and Billy Sadtler.

Individual Terps Vs. UMBC
• Only five Terps have posted points against UMBC over their careers. Joe Walters leads the way with 15 points on 12 goals and three assists. He scored three and assisted on one in each of his first two games vs. the Retrievers, before exploding for a career-best six goals last season.

• Bill McGlone also scored a career high five goals in the 2005 meeting with UMBC. He also added an assist to go along with a goal in 2004 for a total of seven points vs. the Retrievers.

• Brendan Healy and Xander Ritz have each had multi-point games in the last two meetings with UMBC. Healy tallied a goal and an assist in 2004 and improved that to two goals and two assists last season. Ritz has dished out two helpers in each of his games vs. UMBC.

• Maryland's face-off men had their way with the Retrievers at the X last season, going a combined 20 of 29 (69.0%). David Tamberrino led the way, winning 14 of 18, while Thomas Alford won four of six.

Terps Among ACC Stat Leaders
• The Terps are off to a 3-0 start and have several players near the top the ACC stat charts.

• Xander Ritz is the conference's leading scorer in points and goals per game. The senior midfielder/attackman's average of 3.3 goals per game is one better than Virginia's Matt Ward who is averaging 2.3 gpg. He also is the ACC leader in points per game with a 4.0 average. Ritz is also ranked first in man-up goals (5) and game-winning goals (2).

• Joe Walters had been quiet as a goal scorer prior to the Towson game, but with three goals and an assist vs. the Tigers he has climbed several of the ACC charts. The senior attackman is second in the ACC in assists per game (2.0). Walters is fifth in points per game (3.3), tied for 10th in goals per game (1.33) and is first in shots per game (8.67).

• Max Ritz is also among the ACC's leaders in goals per game, tying for 10th with 1.33 gpg. The sophomore attackman is also tied with Maryland senior midfielder Bill McGlone with two man-up goals.

• David Tamberrino is ranked third in face-off percentage (30/49, .612), but that average is second among players with more than 40 face-offs taken.

• In goal, Harry Alford is first in saves per game (12.67) and second in save percentage (69.1) and goals against average (5.65 GAA). The junior is also among the leaders in groundballs per game, checking in at third with an average of 4.33. Junior Ryan Clarke is tied for fourth with 4.0 groundballs per game.

Streaking Terps
• Two Terps entered the 2006 season game with point-scoring streaks and both emerged from the Bucknell game in tact.

• Joe Walters' point scoring streak is now at 37 games. He tallied three assists vs. the Hoyas in the '06 season opener. He followed that up with a one-goal, two-assist effort at Duke. Against Towson the senior came out firing and finished the game with three goals and an assist for a game-high four points. After scoring the game's first goal, Walters also dished out two assists for a three-point effort vs. Bucknell.

• Xander Ritz now has a point scoring streak of 20 games. After scoring a then-career-best four goals at Georgetown, the senior midfielder/attackman scored five goals to re-set his career high and added an assist at Duke. While Ritz didn't dominate Towson like he did the Hoyas and Blue Devils, he still managed a goal and an assist in Maryland's 9-6 win. Ritz continued his torrid scoring pace against Bucknell with two goals and two assists, his fourth multi-point game in four games this season.

• The last time Walters did not score a point in a game was May 24, 2003 in the NCAA Semifinals vs. eventual National Champion Virginia. For Ritz, he was last held scoreless in the 2004 NCAA Quarterfinal game vs. Princeton.

Defense Proves To Be Strong Again
• 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 proved to be easier than previously imagined.

• During the last two seasons, Maryland held its' opponents scoreless for long stretches of game time. The 2004 Terps kept opponents scoreless for stretches of 20 or more minutes eight times. Last year Maryland did it on seven occasions, and was just seconds away from keeping the high-powered Duke (1st meeting) and Navy offenses off the board for more than 20 minutes. This season the Terrapin defense has already done it three times in its first four games.

• At No. 7 Georgetown in the season opener, the Hoyas took a 2-1 lead with 0:13 left in the first quarter. Maryland's defense, lead by sophomore goalie Harry Alford, who totaled 14 saves in the 10-4 victory, didn't allow the seventh-ranked Hoyas another goal until 7:09 in the fourth quarter, a total time of 38:05. Of the Hoyas' four goals, two were scored during a Maryland penalty.

• Even though the Terp defense did not hold No. 1 Duke scoreless for any 20-minute stretch, it did hold one of the nation's most prolific offenses to the Blue Devils' lowest scoring output of the season. Prior to scoring just seven goals vs. Maryland, Duke had put up 20 on Butler, 13 on Villanova and 16 on Bellarmine for an average of 16.3 goals per game.

• In their first home game of 2006 against No. 15 Towson, the Terps dominated the first half of play, holding the Tigers scoreless for a 4-0 Maryland advantage at the half. Towson didn't get on the board until the 8:28 mark of the third quarter, which ended its scoring drought to 36:32. The Terp defense caused 14 of the Tigers' 24 turnovers, including a career-best five CT's by Steve Whittenberg. Maryland also controlled the game on the ground, beating Towson in groundballs 40-21.

• Maryland may have lost its first game of 2006 to Bucknell, 7-6 in 2OT, but the Terrapin defense turned in another stellar effort, led by junior All-American Steve Whittenberg, who surpassed his Towson-effort by causing six Bison turnovers and picking up five groundballs. As a team, the Terps caused 15 of Bucknell's 23 turnovers and won the groundball battle, 37-22. Even though Bucknell scored twice in each of the first three quarters for a 6-3 lead heading into the fourth, Maryland's D shutout the Bison in the fourth, allowing the Terrapin offense to score three unanswered goals to tie the game. Overall the Terps held Bucknell scoreless for 27:47 before giving up the game-winning goal with nine seconds left in the second overtime.

Three on Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List
• Seniors Joe Walters and Bill McGlone are joined by junior Harry Alford on the preseason "Watch List" for the 2006 Tewaaraton Trophy. Walters is a two-time semifinalist for the award and McGlone was on the preseason watch list in 2005. For Alford, this is his first appearance on the watch list.

• The Tewaaraton Trophy is awarded each year to the top male and female varsity lacrosse player, as chosen by the selection committee. The sixth annual award will be given at a banquet in June. The event will take place in Washington D.C. at the National Geographic Society headquarters.

Terps' 81st Season Of Lacrosse
• The Terps boast an all-time record of 664-215-4, 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 80 seasons with a .500 or better record, including last season when the Terps went 11-6. The program reached the 650-win milestone with a 16-12 win over Army in the first round of the 2004 NCAA tournament at Byrd Stadium.

• Since 2000, Maryland is 71-26 for a .732 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.

Terps Second In Strength Of Schedule
• According to Face-Off Magazine, Maryland's 2006 schedule is ranked as the second toughest in the NCAA behind only North Carolina.

• The Terps are scheduled to play eight teams ranked in the preseason Inside Lacrosse media poll and two other opponents that received votes. In the latest IL Media Poll, eight of Maryland's opponents are ranked in the Top 20, including three of the top four and four of the top 10. In addition to those eight teams, UMBC and North Carolina are among others receiving votes and are both 2006 Terrapin opponents.

• Maryland has already played two Top 10 teams on the road and are 2-0 in those contests. Additionally Maryland topped No. 15 Towson in its home opener.

2006 Captains: Healy, Lang, McGlone, X. Ritz
• Four players have been named team captains for the 2006 season. The quartet, which was voted on by the team during the fall season, consists of seniors Brendan Healy, Ryan Lang, Bill McGlone and Xander Ritz.