Feb. 16, 2007

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The sixth-ranked Maryland men's lacrosse team opens its 2007 regular season at home against Bellarmine. The game is slated for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday, February 17 at the Field Hockey/Lacrosse Complex.

• Maryland is coming off of a tremendous 2006 season that saw the Terps make their third trip to the NCAA Final Four in the past four years. The Terrapins return six of 10 starters from that squad, including 2007 preseason first team All-Americans Steve Whittenberg and Ray Megill.

• The Knights, in just their second season as a Division I program, are representing the Great Western Lacrosse League. They finished the 2006 season with an 7-8 mark and return five starters from that club.

• The game will also mark the season debut of Maryland men's lacrosse on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network. Every home game will be broadcast on TSRN. Stations carrying Maryland men's lacrosse this season are: WJFK AM 1300 - Baltimore, WTBO AM 1450 - Cumberland, WARK AM 1490- Hagerstown, WQMR 101.1FM - Ocean City. Calling the action will be a pair of Maryland alums: Steve Stofberg (`94) returns for his second season as the play-by-play voice on Terps lacrosse and joining him this season will be former Terp All-American midfielder Brian Reese ('98).

ACC Select
• The Maryland-Bellarmine game is the first of five Terp games slated to be aired on ACC Select, the new live web broadcasting service of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Fans can view the action by logging on to accselect.com. Individual games are available for $3.99 per event or unlimited events can be accessed for a $5.99 monthly subscription fee.

Tickets and Game Promotions
• Click here for ticket information for all 2007 Maryland men's lacrosse home games.

• In addition to Saturday's game vs. Bellarmine being the 2007 season and home opener it will also be "Poster Day" at the Field Hockey/Lacrosse Complex. The first 500 fans will receive a FREE Maryland men's lacrosse 2007 poster. Click here for a complete list of game promotions for this season.

Maryland In Season Openers
• Maryland has a 77-3-1 (.957) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1924 season. The Terps have won their last 13 openers and 21 of the last 22, 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.)

13 Straight In Season Openers
• The Terps enter the 2007 season riding a 13-game winning streak in season openers. Five of those wins came against Villanova (1994-98) and the last eight over Denver, Mount St. Mary's, Air Force, Hobart, Duke and Georgetown (three times). Over the 13-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 182-66 (an average score of 14.0-5.1) in those games.

• The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 13 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.

Coaching Match-Up
• Now in his 25th season as a head coach, Cottle comes into the game with a 238-92 career record for a 72.1 win percentage, third-highest among active coaches. His win total is sixth among active coaches. He is 57-22 (72.2) in his five seasons at Maryland.

• Bellarmine's Jack McGetrick is in his third season as the Knight's head coach and has compiled a 20-10 (.667) record in his first two seasons. Overall as a head coach, McGetrick is 107-84 (.560) in 13 seasons.

Series History vs. Bellarmine
• This will mark the first-ever meeting between Maryland and the Bellarmine Knights.

• The Knights completed their first season as a Division I member in 2006, compiling a 7-8 record. Bellarmine was a provisional D1 member in 2005.

First-Time Opponents
• This will be the first meeting between Maryland and Bellarmine and history says the Terps hold a significant advantage. The Terrapins have played 69 schools in their 81-year history and hold a 65-4 (.942) record in first meetings.

• The only schools to defeat Maryland the first time they met were: Adelphia (13-12, 1982), Army (3-0, 1924), Syracuse (10-3, 1927) and Yale (5-3, 1925).

Opponent Connections
• It's rare for Terrapin lacrosse, but when Maryland and Bellarmine meet there will no high school teammates on the field.

• The only connection between the two schools is a pair of Knight goalkeepers that hail from the Free State. Senior JC Hutchins (Westminster, Md.) is the projected starter in goal of the Knights, while freshman AJ Smith (Urbana, Md.) is a reserve.

• Maryland does not have anyone from Kentucky on its roster.

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Notes from Bellarmine Media Relations ...
• In Inside Lacrosse's first media poll released on Feb. 12, six of Bellarmine's opponents this year were ranked in the top 20: No. 4 Princeton, No. 6 Maryland, No. 8 Duke, No. 11 Notre Dame, No. 14 Denver, and No. 18 North Carolina. This season, the Knights are playing programs which have a combined 26 national championships.

• This season marks the first year that Bellarmine will be eligible to qualify for the NCAA tournament. As part of their reclassification process, the team was not allowed to play in post-season competition during their first two years of existence.

• Bellarmine was accepted into the Great Western Lacrosse League this past off-season, a conference which has an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for the conference champion. Other league members include: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Denver, Air Force, and Quinnipiac.

• Due to construction delays on their new 2,100-seat, $4.2 million stadium, the Knights are still without a home this season. The team will play their six home contests on Trinity High School's artificial turf field. Last year, the team played their home games at Trinity, highlighted by a crowd of 2,800 for their match-up with Notre Dame. The team still holds most of their practices at Creason Park.

• A week from this Saturday, Bellarmine hosts their home opener against St. John's. The University of Louisville men's basketball team also hosts St. John's on the hardwood next week.

• Bellarmine assistant coach, Cameron Adams, is in his first year on the sidelines after playing for the Knights the past two seasons. Adams, a native of Adelaide, South Australia, is the brother of Jen Adams, who is currently the associate head coach at Maryland.

• Bellarmine has the only Division I varsity men's lacrosse program in the state of Kentucky, as well as the only program in border states Tennessee, West Virginia, Missouri, and Illinois. The Knights' nearest DI rival was Butler in Indianapolis, but two weeks ago, the Butler athletics programs made a decision to drop men's lacrosse. As a result, Bellarmine will only have 14 games this season as they were scheduled to travel to Butler at the end of March. The Knights nearest Division I opponent now is Ohio State, which is over 200 miles away. Bellarmine will host the Buckeyes on April 7 this year, the first ever meeting between the two schools in any sport.

• Bellarmine's roster contains players from 11 different states as well as 18 players from three different Canadian provinces. The Knights have three players from Louisville, Ky. including senior co-captain George Tafel.

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Home Cooking
• A lot is made in sports about the home-field advantage, and for the Maryland men's lacrosse team that advantage has held true since Coach Cottle arrived in College Park. Since 2002, the Terps are 27-9 (.750) when playing on the Maryland campus. At Byrd Stadium Maryland is 20-7 (.741) under Cottle, while the Terps have gone 6-2 (.750) at the Field Hockey/Lacrosse Complex and 1-0 at Ludwig Field.

A Family Affair
• Many school's refer to their sports programs as families, but under Coach Cottle the Maryland men's lacrosse program has really become a family affair. Since arriving in College Park in 2002, Cottle has had seven sets of brothers don the red and black together for at least one season.

Harry & Thomas Alford: 2004-05-06-07
Brendan & Ian Healy: 2003-04-05
Bryn & Travis Holmes: 2007
Dan & Frank LaMonica: 2002
Chris & Willy Passavia: 2002-03
Brian & Michael Phipps: 2007
Max & Xander Ritz: 2005-06

Defense Ready To Meet Expectations
• On paper this year's Maryland defense shapes up as one of the nation's best. The unit features two preseason first team All-Americans in seniors Ray Megill and Steve Whittenberg and an honorable mention selection in junior Joe Cinosky. Add to that trio senior long pole Ryan Clarke and junior short-stick middie Jeff Reynolds, both two-year starters, and there is no question that the tools are there for defensive coordinator Dave Slafkosky.

Terps' 82nd Season of Lacrosse
• The Terps boast an all-time record of 673-219-4 (.753), 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 81 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 80-29 for a .734 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.

2007 Captains: Borell, Feifs, Holmes, Megill
• Four players have been named team captains for the 2007 season. The quartet, which was voted on by the team during the preseason, consists of seniors Jimmy Borell, Chris Feifs, Travis Holmes and Ray Megill.

Media Information
• Email Straight To You: If you would like the latest Maryland men's lacrosse news emailed directly to you as soon as it breaks, email men's lacrosse contact Patrick Fischer with "Men's Lacrosse E-Mail" 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 log-on to www.umterps.com on the Internet.

• GameTracker: Follow Terps games live in 2007 on your computer with GameTracker. Links for all games that will be available can be found at www.umterps.com.