COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 9 Maryland men's soccer team opens up its 2007 season on the road at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic hosted by Indiana. The Terrapins will take on a pair of top 10 opponents in the No. 7 Hoosiers on August 31 at 7:30 p.m. and then No. 10 Notre Dame on September 2 at 11:30 a.m.

Terps Open 2007 With Indiana, Notre Dame
• The No. 9 Maryland men's soccer team opens the 2007 season with a pair of top 10 opponents on the road at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic.
• The Terrapins last met the Hoosiers on October 29, 2005 in front of a then-record crowd of 6,203 at Ludwig Field. In that match, Maryland took a 3-0 lead into the halftime break, but Indiana stormed back with three goals of their own in the second frame to force the draw.
• The Irish ousted Maryland last year in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen when Hermann Trophy winner Jason Lapira scored in the 107th minute to put Notre Dame through with a 1-0 win.

King Earns Preseason Accolades
• Senior midfielder Stephen King was named to the Missouri Athletic Club's (MAC) Hermann Trophy Watch List on August 8 and was also placed on the College Soccer News 2007 Preseason All-America First Team. The Medford, N.J., product was a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy last season, which is awarded to the nation's best collegiate soccer player.
• King, entering his second year as team captain, finished the 2006 season with six goals and seven assists which led the team. His 19 points were second on the squad while his six goals were third. King has started every game since arriving in College Park in 2004.
• He has worked his way into the top 10 all-time at Maryland in career assists and points. Entering his final season, he has compiled 20 assists which is currently 10th and his 76 points are tied for ninth.
• King was an NSCAA All-South Atlantic Second Team selection as a junior and was also named to the All-ACC Second Team. His work is equally impressive in the classroom as he was named an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA third team Academic All-American and an NSCAA/adidas third team Scholar All-American.

Terps In The Preseason
• Maryland finished its preseason with an undefeated record of 2-0-1. The Terps knocked off Fairleigh Dickinson, 3-0, on August 18 and then beat the University of Montreal, 3-2, on August 22. Maryland capped off its exhibition play with a 2-2 draw against VCU on August 24.
• The Terps held large advantages in shots (51-21), shots on goal (24-7), and corner kicks (16-9) against its opposition in the three games. The Maryland attack forced its opponents to make 16 saves compared to the Terps' three.
• Junior Graham Zusi, Maryland's leading scorer last season, led the Terps with two goals and three assists. Senior Stephen King was the other multiple goal scorer for the red and black with a pair as well. Sophomore Drew Yates recorded a goal and two assists while sophomore Omar Gonzalez and newcomers Billy Cortes and Rodney Wallace each added a goal.
• Maryland's 2.53 goals per game average was well above the average last season as the Terps found the net 1.53 times an outing in 2006.
• Last preseason, the Terrapins did not put a goal on the board in two games as they tied Georgetown and lost to Indiana, 1-0.

Scouting The Hoosiers
• Indiana, ranked No. 7 in the preseason NSCAA/adidas poll, finished the 2006 season at 15-4-3 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen before bowing out to Santa Clara in a penalty shootout.
• The Hoosiers return sophomore Darren Yeagle, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season as he scored seven goals and assisted on two others. The seven goals were tied for the team lead.
• Junior Brian Ackley returns to Bloomington after leading the team last season with seven goals and five assists.
• Defenders Greg Stevning and Ofori Sarkodie also return to anchor the back line while Chay Cain returns after starting 19 games in goal. He allowed just 11 goals in those matches and saved 84 percent of the shots he faced.

Scouting the Fighting Irish
• Notre Dame enters the weekend at No. 10 in the preseason poll after going 15-6-2 in 2006 and advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
• Joseph Lapira, last season's Hermann Trophy winner, returns for his senior campaign. He scored 22 goals and recorded six assists in 23 games last year and notched the game-winner in double overtime in the NCAA Tournament against the Terps.
• Notre Dame also returns junior Matt Besler who was an All-BIG EAST second teamer and third team selection Chris Cahill.
• Cahill started 20 games in goal for the Irish and allowed just 15 goals while saving 82 percent of the shots he faced.

King Of The Pitch
• Senior Stephen King enters his final season in red and black and has left an indelible impression in College Park. The second-year captain has started all 72 games Maryland has played since 2004, his freshman campaign.
• King's 20 career assists ranks 10th all-time at Maryland while his 28 goals is just outside the top 10. His 76 points is currently tied for ninth.
• His sophomore season, King scored 15 times and assisted others eight times. His goal number is tied for 10th all-time in a single season while his 38 points is tied for eighth.

From A to Z-usi
• Junior Graham Zusi, the leading scorer for the Terps in 2006 with 11 goals and seven assists, will look to make an even bigger impact this season.
• Zusi started out hot last year as he scored a point in nine of the first 11 games that he played. Maryland went 8-0-1 in those games.
• The Terps went 13-1-1 in 2006 when Zusi tallied at least one point.
• Zusi was a part of seven game-winning goals in 2006. He scored four of his own: against Penn State, in a thrilling comeback at Wake Forest, against Albany, and against Boston College in the ACC Tournament.
• His three game-winning assists came against Loyola and Duke in consecutive matches at Ludwig Field and then against Hartwick later in the season. All of those matches were 1-0 wins and came the same way as Maurice Edu headed Zusi's crosses into the back of the net.

Experience In The Back
• Maryland returns three starters on the back line from last year's squad that allowed just 16 goals, the fewest since 2003.
• Senior tri-captain Spencer Allen started all 22 games a year ago, mostly at right back. He also shifted over to the left side when David Glaudemans was injured and junior Rich Costanzo filled the right side.
• Junior A.J. Delagarza and sophomore Omar Gonzalez return after spending all of last season starting at the center back spot. Both started every game they played in last season.
• The Terps defense helped pitch nine shutouts last season with five of them coming in a six-game stretch from September 13-29.

Cirovski's Legacy
• Head coach Sasho Cirovski has built Maryland into the premier soccer program in the country. He has guided the Terps to the 2005 National Championship, 12 NCAA postseason appearances, five appearances at the College Cup, and two ACC Tournament titles.
• Cirovski owns a record of 203-93-15 in 14 years at the helm of the program. His win total ranks second at Maryland all-time, just 14 behind Doyle Royal who went 217-58-58 with the Terps in 28 seasons.
• Along with all of the team accomplishments, Cirovski has mentored some of the top student-athletes in the game. He guided Jason Garey to the Hermann Trophy in 2005, the program's first-ever recipient.
• He has also produced two No. 1 overall MLS SuperDraft picks, three ACC Players of the Year, a national and ACC Freshman of the Year, 21 first team All-ACC selections, 19 All-Americans, and 28 MLS players.

International Experience
• Sophomores Omar Gonzalez and Jeremy Hall were both exposed to the international game over the summer as both competed for the United States at the Pan American Games held in Rio de Janeiro.
• The Americans did not make it out of group play, but both Terps saw plenty of action on the pitch in Brazil. Gonzalez started at forward all three matches and scored twice against Bolivia.
• Hall was the first player off the bench for the Americans in the first match and started the second.
• Gonzalez started all 22 games at center back and contributed on the offensive end with a goal and three assists last season for the Terps.
• Hall was second on the team with seven goals, and his three assists gave him 17 points, which was third on the squad. Two of his seven goals were game-winners.

Non-Conference Dominance
• The Terps have been impressive against non-ACC foes since the 2001 season, compiling a 76-17-4 record. Five of those losses came in a 10-5-0 2001 campaign.
• Maryland went a perfect 10-0-0 in 2006 in non-conference outings. The last time it was undefeated out of conference was in 1986 when it went 11-0-0.

First To Score Wins
• Last year, Maryland went 16-0-0 when it scored the first goal in a match. The Terps outscored their opponents 21-7 in the first half in 2006.
• The Terrapins have not lost a match when they strike first since October 2, 2004 - a total of 40-straight matches.

Thanks For The Help
• Maryland assisted on all but seven goals in 2006, four of which were penalty kicks. Junior Graham Zusi scored Maryland's first and last goals of the season, both unassisted.

Draft History Made In 2007
• Junior midfielder Maurice Edu became the second men's soccer student-athlete in Maryland history to be drafted with the first overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft as he was selected by the expansion franchise Toronto FC with the draft's first selection on January 12, 2007 at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Sophomore keeper Chris Seitz was taken fourth overall by Real Salt Lake.
• It marked just the fourth time in MLS SuperDraft history that two student-athletes from the same school were selected in the top five.
• It was the second time under head coach Sasho Cirovski that a Terp has been selected with the first overall pick. Leo Cullen was taken by Miami in 1998 with the first pick in the draft.
• Edu and Seitz were also the seventh and eighth student-athletes under Cirovski's guidance to be taken in the first round. Since the draft's inception in 1996, Cirovski has produced 21 MLS SuperDraft picks.
• Edu was the fifth student-athlete from Maryland to be selected first overall in his respective sport's draft. Men's basketball has had two top picks in John Lucas (1976) and Joe Smith (1995) and men's lacrosse had Joe Walters go first in 2006.