COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 9 Maryland men's soccer team will open its preseason slate on Saturday, August 18 when it takes on Fairleigh Dickinson in a friendly at 7:30 p.m. The exhibition will be the first sporting event on campus for any Terrapin team and will be played at the team's practice field located on Stadium Drive.

The friendly will give Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski a chance to play different people at different spots in order to best prepare for the regular season which opens on August 31 at No. 7 Indiana.

"I am going into the season with a very open mind on who is going to play different positions and how we, as a team, are going to play," Cirovski said.

The Terps lost five starters from the 2006 squad but regain the services of their top three scorers in junior Graham Zusi (11G, 7A), senior Stephen King (6G, 7A), and sophomore Jeremy Hall (7G, 3A). Last season, Maryland finished 16-5-1 and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

Fairleigh Dickinson was picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference this season after going 9-5-4 in 2006. The Knights return Samson Malijani who was the NEC Rookie of the Year after leading the team in scoring with seven goals and four assists. Their defense stifled their opponents last year as they allowed just nine goals, a 0.46 per game average.

Maryland will host two more exhibitions next week as the University of Montreal comes to College Park for an international friendly on August 22 and then VCU visits College Park to wrap up the preseason on August 24.

The Terps open the 2007 regular season slate on August 31 against No. 7 Indiana at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. Two days later, Maryland will square off against No. 10 Notre Dame in Bloomington.