Terps Women's Soccer Opens 2007 Season At Home Against Eastern Kentucky
8/30/2007 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 30, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland Terrapin women's soccer team begins the 2007 season with a pair of home games at Ludwig Field. The Terps kick off their '07 campaign on Friday, August 31, with a 7:00 p.m. game vs. Eastern Kentucky. The Terps then host Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday, September 2, at 7 p.m.
Did you know ... the last time the Maryland women's soccer team opened the season 2-0 was 2001 with a 3-0 win over Towson on Aug. 31 and a 2-0 win over No. 17 Duke on Sept. 2?
Tickets and Game Promotions
• Click here for ticket information for all 2007 Maryland women's soccer home games.
• Click here for a complete list of game promotions for this season.
Scouting The Colonels
• Eastern Kentucky finished the 2006 season with a 4-12-2 record. Under the direction of third-year head coach Lindsay Basalyga, the Colonels returns seven starters and 20 letterwinners from last season's team. EKU played two preseason exhibitions prior to meeting the Terps, losing 6-0 to Cincinnati on Aug. 21 before falling 4-3 at Wright State on Aug. 26.
• The top three scorers from 2006 return for the Colonels. Lauren Imsande, Kayla Swearingen and Georgia Koromelas each scored three goals last season. Eastern Kentucky will most likely have a newcomer in goal as the only keepers on the roster are freshmen Morgan Buzzell and Stephanie Lynch.
Did you know ... Easten Kentucky head coach Lindsat Basalyga is a 2001 alumnae of Maryland
Scouting The Knights
• Head coach Renee Montana brings her Fairleigh Dickinson team into College Park for its first ever meeting with the Terrapins on Sunday, Sept. 2. The Knights are coming off of a 4-12-1 season, but return 10 starters and 16 letterwinners. FDU lost exhibition matches to Army, 2-0 on Aug. 22, and to Seton Hall, 6-0 on Aug. 24.
• Senior Michelle DeCourcey is the leading returning scorer for the Knights with two goals and four points last season.
Did you know ... FDU opens its 2007 season at St. John's on Aug. 31 at 4 p.m.?
Looking Back At The Preseason
• The Terps finished their 2007 preseason schedule with a 1-0-1 mark, but more importantly is that they are healthy heading into the regular season.
• Maryland defeated the University of Montreal 3-0 on August 21. Junior midfielder Kaila Sciascia scored a goal and added an assist to lead the University of Maryland women's soccer team to a 3-0 victory over the University of Montreal in an international friendly Tuesday afternoon in College Park.
Neither team managed to score in the first 45 minutes of play, but the Terps broke through just five minutes into the second half. Redshirt-junior Nataly Arias, who returned for the Terrapins after missing the entire 2006 season due to injury, started the scoring play with a nice touch pass to freshman midfielder Caitlin McDowell. McDowell then threaded a brilliant through-ball to fellow freshman Kylie Ricker who was racing down the right side of the pitch. Ricker beat Carabins' goalkeeper Évelyne Boula, who came off of her line, to the ball and finished it into the net for the 1-0 Terrapin lead.
Maryland's second score came via a set piece off of a corner kick in the 75th minute. Sciascia served a great high ball to the far post where senior defender Ashly Kennedy was there to head the ball into the goal. Senior forward Kelly Rozumalski made a great run into the Montreal backfield, pressuring the Carabins, to set-up the corner.
Sciascia was the one of the receiving end of a great assist in the 78th minute from freshman Erika Theisen for the Terps' third goal. Theisen found herself with space on the left side and pressured that space, opening up an alley for her to feed Sciascia with a through-ball into the middle of the field. Sciascia made a great cut on the ball, evading a defender and finished the play into the right side of the goal.
• The Terps then played No. 10 UConn to a 1-1 tie on August 24. Maryland's goal vs. the Huskies was the only score UConn allowed in three preseason games, including against preseason No. 11 Virginia and No. 13 Boston College.
Maryland took a 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute of play when senior defender Ashly Kennedy put away her second score of the preseason. The play started with a corner kick from the left side by junior forward Kaila Sciascia. She sent the ball to the far post where junior midfielder Nataly Arias flicked the ball back to Kennedy, who then laced a shot through a crowd around the right post for the score.
The Terps appeared to have held on for the victory, but in the 90th minute the Huskies struck back to tie the match. Cory Bildstein ran down a ball in the right corner and played a cross to the far side of the penalty box. That's where Meghan Schnur one-timed it into the right side of the net to knot the score at one goal apiece.
Maryland's highly touted freshman goalkeeper, Yewande Balogun, was solid for the Terps in goal, stopping six Huskie shots.
Balogun Named Starting Keeper
• Freshman Yewande Balogun was named the starting goalkeeper for the Terps earlier this week. She had been competing for the job with sophomore Mary Casey, but the coaching staff determined that what was best for the team was to have both on the field at the same time. So Casey will return to her role as a defender, where she started 12 matches last season.
Dreska To Miss 2007 Season
• Sophomore midfielder Molly Dreska will miss the entire 2007 season after suffering a knee injury during the summer. She missed the Terps' final five games of the 2006 season due to injury as well.
Media Information
• 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 with "Women's Soccer 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.
