Terps to Tangle with Red Storm Friday in 2008 Men's College Cup
12/10/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Dec. 10, 2008
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FRISCO, Texas - With a nation-best 14-game winning streak in tow, the second-seeded Maryland men's soccer team is headed to the 2008 Men's College Cup to face No. 3-seed St. John's Friday at 8 p.m. in Frisco, Texas. The match will be shown live on ESPNU and on tape delay on ESPN2 Dec. 13 at 11 a.m.
For Maryland (21-3-0), it will mark the fifth time in the past seven seasons that the Terps have competed in College Cup action. The last time Maryland landed in the final four was in 2005 when it captured the program's second national championship. The Terps have already set school-bests in wins (21) and are tied for shutouts (13) in a season. The squad dropped second-ranked Creighton, 1-0, last Saturday in quarterfinal play to advance to the semifinals. Rodney Wallace headed home the eventual game-winner midway through the first half off a Michael Marchiano free kick. The Terps dominated play, winning the shot battle, 17-5, and attempting 14 more corner kicks than the Jays.
All-ACC First Team pick Jeremy Hall leads the Terrapin attack, racking up team-highs in goals (14) and points (34) while freshman keeper Zac MacMath has won 17 consecutive matches between the pipes while surrendering a league-best .49 goals per game. The Maryland defense, led by Dallas-native Omar Gonzalez, is one of the premier units in the land, surrendering a mere six goals in the last 14 games.
St. John's (19-2-3) defeated Indiana, 3-2, in overtime to advance to its third College Cup. The Red Storm is led offensively by Nelson Becerra (8g) and Tafadzwa Chiduku (7g). On the defensive side, SJU boasts a solid keeper in Neal Kitson who has allowed only 11 goals in 23 matches this season. The Red Storm defense as a whole has the held the opposition to .50 goals per game while the attack boasts 1.62 scores per game. All four squads in this year's final four - Wake Forest, North Carolina, Maryland and St. John's - have won at least one national title. SJU won its championship in 1996.
The all-time series is a heated one and dates back to 1995, when St. John's bested Maryland in the Rutgers Met-Life Classic, 2-0. The Terps dropped the Red Storm, 5-2, in the Maryland/adidas Classic in 2004 in the only other regular season meeting between the two programs. The Terps and the Red Storm have battled on five other occasions in NCAA Tournament play, with Maryland winning the last three, including the series' last meeting in 2006 in the second round, 2-0. Maryland leads the all-time series, 4-3, heading into this weekend.
Southern Methodist University and FC Dallas of Major League Soccer are hosts of the 2008 Men's College Cup. Tickets may be purchased in advance by calling the SMU Ticket Office at 214-SMUGAME, logging on to SMUMustangs.com or by calling FC Dallas 214-705-6700.
