The Maryland Men's Lacrosse Blog
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The seventh-ranked Maryland men's lacrosse team opens its 2008 regular season at local rival No. 4 Georgetown on Saturday, Feb. 23 at noon at the Hoyas' Multi-Sport Field. The game will be televised on a tape-delay basis on MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) beginning at 4 p.m. Leif Elsmo and Kyle Sweeney will handle the commentary duties.
• Maryland is coming off of a 2007 season that saw the Terps extend their streak of NCAA Tournament appearances to five seasons. This season the Terrapins return six of 10 starters, including Ritz, All-America midfielder Dan Groot and three-year starting defender Joe Cinosky. Maryland also welcomes back redshirt-junior midfielder Jeff Reynolds, who missed most of 2007 after suffering a torn ACL in the team's second game.
• The Hoyas return eight of 10 starters from a 2007 squad that advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals. Georgetown returns its top four attackmen - seniors Brendan Cannon (21 goals, 23 assists) and Andrew Baird (20, 10), sophomore Craig Dowd (17, 8) and junior Jake Samperton (10, 3) - who totaled 68 goals and 44 assists last season. Also returning for Coach Dave Urick is All-America defender Jerry Lambe.
| Tale
of the Tape |
Maryland (`07) |
Category |
Georgetown (`07) |
10.7 |
Goals/Game |
9.3 |
8.0 |
Opp.
Goals/Game |
8.2 |
37.0 |
Shots/Game |
39.3 |
29.1 |
Shot
Pct. |
23.8 |
23.3 |
Shots
on Goal/Game |
22.9 |
62.8 |
Shots
on Goal Pct. |
58.2 |
11.1 |
Saves/Game |
9.6 |
57.8 |
Save
Pct. |
53.9 |
38.7 |
Groundballs/Game |
37.4 |
31.9 |
Opp.
Groundballs/Game |
29.9 |
17.3 |
Turnovers/Game |
18.4 |
14.5 |
Caused
Turnovers/Game |
8.3 |
47.0 |
Face-Off
Pct. |
54.9 |
82.3 |
Clear
Pct. |
81.0 |
77.6 |
Opp.
Clear Pct. |
75.7 |
4.3 |
Penalties/Game |
3.4 |
3.6 |
Penalty
Minutes/Game |
2.7 |
49.1 |
Man-Up
Conversion Pct. |
19.2 |
24.6 |
Opp.
Man-Up Conversion Pct. |
31.2 |
Maryland In Season Openers
• Maryland has a 78-3-1 (.957) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1924 season. The Terps have won their last 14 openers and 22 of the last 23, with the only loss coming to Duke in 1993, when they 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.)
• The Terps are 19-0 all-time in season openers away from College Park.
14 Straight In Season Openers
• The Terps enter the 2008 season riding a 14-game winning streak in season openers. Five of those wins came against Villanova (1994-98) and the last nine over Denver, Mount St. Mary's, Air Force, Hobart, Duke, Georgetown (three times) and Bellarmine. Over the 14-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 193-72 (an average score of 13.8-5.1) in those games.
• The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 14 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 26th season as a head coach, Dave Cottle comes into the game with a 248-98 career record for a 71.7 win percentage, sixth-highest among active coaches with at least 100 career wins. His win total is fifth among active coaches. He is 67-27 (70.5) in his six seasons at Maryland.
• Georgetown's Dave Urick is in his 29th season as a head coach and is eighth among active Division I head coaches with 184 DI coaching victories. Urick holds an all-time record of 306-100 (.753). Urick is now in his 19th season at Georgetown and has 184-70 (.724) mark.
• Cottle has a 16-1 lifetime record against Georgetown, with 10 victories coming while he was at Loyola from 1983-2001. Urick is 1-6 all-time vs. Maryland with NCAA losses in 1997 and 2005 and regular-season defeats in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. He picked up his first win over the Terps last season with an 8-6 victory in College Park.
Individual Terps Vs. Georgetown
• Only four current Terps have tallied points vs. the Hoyas.
• Leading the way for Maryland is attackmen Max Ritz who has 13 points on nine goals and four assists vs. G'Town. Last year vs. the Hoyas he put up five points on a hat trick and a pair of assists.
• Will Dalton and Ritz each posted their first career goals in the win over Georgetown in 2005.
• Along with Dalton and Ritz, Brian Farrell (1-0=1) and Nick Ward (0-1=1) are the only other current Terps with points vs. the Hoyas.
Opponent Connections
• The Terps and Hoyas have 27 (13 Md., 14 G'town) former high school teammates suiting up for Saturday's match-up.
• Seniors Max Ritz, Chris Early and Scott Kahoe will face each other for the fifth time in college after playing together at Radnor High School.
• Juniors Mike Griswold and Rob Morrison will face four former Landon teammates in Scott Smith, Phil Mufarrij, Stodie Nibley and Jake Samperton.
• Chris Rhine and Max Schmidt will meet fellow Upper Arlington alumni Clayton Hall and Eric Reinhardt.
• Terp Casey Creaney was teammates with Georgetown's Andrew Baird and Chase Gahan at Loyola Blakefield.
• Bryn Holmes, Jeremy Sieverts and Brennan Kelly played together at McDonogh.
• Seniors Drew Evans and Craig Stevenson are former teammates at Ithaca High School in Ithaca, N.Y.
• The Gilman School will be represented by Maryland's Scott Tompkins and the Hoyas' Barney Ehrmann.
• Terp freshman Ryan Young and Hoya Cullen Molinari are both graduates of Manhasset High School, but were never high school teammates.
Series History Vs. Georgetown
• This will mark just the eighth-ever meeting between the local schools with the Terps holding the 6-1 advantage.
• Last year saw the Hoyas solve their Terrapin puzzle with an 8-6 win over the Terps at the Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex. Georgetown jumped out to a 6-1 lead at the half, but Maryland came storming back with five unanswered goals to knot the game at 6-6. But that was all the Terps could muster and the Hoyas added a pair of scores in the fourth quarter to eek out their first-ever win over the Terps.
• The 2006 meeting saw the Terps head to the Georgetown campus for just the second time in the series history and come away with a convincing 10-4 victory. Max Ritz had a career-day for Maryland, racking up then-career-bests with five points and four goals. Older brother Xander also had an amazing afternoon, scoring four goals including the game winner.
• The series' intensity was turned up a notch in the 2005 NCAA Quarterfinals at Princeton Stadium. The Terps looked to have iced the game with 1:33 left in the fourth quarter, when Bill McGlone scored to give Maryland a 9-7 lead, but the goal was disallowed when McGlone's stick was challenged and ruled to have an illegal pocket. The Hoyas tied the game and sent it into overtime, where the Terrapin man-down unit killed the remainder of the three-minute penalty. Senior Andrew Schwartzman sent the Terps to the Final Four by scoring the game-winner with just more than three minutes elapsed in the extra period. Joe Walters scored four goals in the game, while Max Ritz scored a pair of goals and added an assist.
• In the 2005 season opener Maryland used an 8-0 run spanning the second and third quarters to pull away from Georgetown en route to a 13-6 victory in each team's season opener on February 26. Eleven (11) different Terps scored on the afternoon with Bill McGlone leading the way with three goals. Joe Walters was limited to just a single goal, but added four assists for a five-point game. But the unquestioned star of the game was Maryland goalie Harry Alford who made 25 saves and scooped up eight groundballs.
• In the 2004 opener Xander Ritz and Joe Walters each netted three goals, with Ritz adding four assists for a seven-point game to propelled the Terrapins to a decisive 14-5 victory in the regular season home opener on February 28, 2004. Bill McGlone and Justin Smith each scored two goals, while goalie Tim McGinnis stopped 13 Hoya shots.
• In the 2003 game Brian Hunt, Ryan Moran and Mike Mollot each netted two goals, plus Lee Zink's first-career goal and a strong defense gave the Terps a 9-5 victory in the regular season home finale on April 28, 2003.
• In the first game between the schools, Maryland defeated Georgetown, 14-10, in the first round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament at Towson. The Terps jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first quarter and never looked back as they began their run to the second of three trips to the NCAA championship game in a four-year span. The game marked Georgetown's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
• All-American Scott Hochstadt, the school's 17th all-time leading scorer, led the way for Maryland as he posted five goals. Andrew Whipple added three for Maryland as the Terps outshot the Hoyas, 42-25.
Where's The Beef? Check The "D"
• How big is Maryland's defense this season? Well, Towson head coach Tony Seaman, who's Tigers have a big defensive unit of their own, had this to say: "We're certainly nothing like the bullies down at Maryland with size or strength ...". Take a look at the top seven close defensemen and/or long poles for the Terps in 2008 - the average for the group is 6-foot-3, 221 pounds.
Brian Farrell: 6-5, 240
Mike Griswold: 6-4, 230
Max Schmidt: 6-4, 230
Joe Cinosky: 6-3, 225
Zach Hinton: 6-3, 205
Jacob Baxter: 6-1, 230
Ryne Adolph: 6-1, 190
Road Work
• For just the second time in program history, the Terps will open the season with three-straight games away from College Park. In 1978 Maryland opened with a pair of games in North Carolina - a 25-11 win at NC State and a 14-7 win at Duke - before beating Dartmouth, 16-3, in a neutral site game at Garden City, Long Island.
• 2008 marks the 12th time in the 83 years of Maryland lacrosse that the Terps will open a season with at least two road games. In the previous 11 seasons (1952, 1954, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 2001, 2004 and 2006) Maryland has a combined record of 23-0 in those road games.
Defense Ready To Meet Expectations
• On paper this year's Maryland defense may appear to have some holes, but the 2008 Terrapin defense is looking to uphold the Terps' tradition of great defenses. Sure, the unit lost two second team All-Americans in seniors Ray Megill and Steve Whittenberg and also three-year starting long pole Ryan Clarke, but one look at the talent this year's "D" and you'll see it's more than capable. Three-year starter Joe Cinosky returns for his senior season along with a trio of experienced seniors in Ryne Adolph, Jacob Baxter and Zach Hinton. Talented freshman Max Schmidt is expected to see plenty of playing time as well at close defense. At long pole sophomore Brian Farrell is one of the best in the NCAA and the Terps have depth behind him in senior Matt Rankin, junior Chris Rhine and sophomore Dan Halayko. Redshirt junior Jeff Reynolds is back after missing 14 games in 2007 with a torn ACL. This season he's set to pair up with sophomore Bryn Holmes to give Maryland one of the best short-stick tandems in the country.
• During the last four seasons, Maryland held its' opponents scoreless for long stretches of game time. The 2004 Terps kept opponents scoreless for stretches of 20 or more minutes eight times. In 2005 Maryland did it on seven occasions, and was just seconds away from keeping the high-powered Duke (1st meeting) and Navy offenses off the board for more than 20 minutes. The 2006 season saw the Terrapin defense do it 10 times in 17 games. In 2007 Terp "D" had 11 20+ minute scoring droughts to its credit in 16 contests.
Freshmen Starters
• There is a lot of speculation about several freshmen possibly starting vs. the Hoyas. But freshmen starting the season opener is nothing new for the Terps under Coach Cottle. Since 2002 there have been four Terrapins that have started the season opener.
2002: None
2003: Joe Walters vs. Duke
2004: None
2005: Max Ritz vs. Georgetown
2006: Dan Groot vs. Georgetown
2007: Brian Phipps vs. Bellarmine
Streaking Terps
• Entering the 2008 season and so far and two Terps have nothced at least one point in every game.
• Max Ritz is currently on a 17-game multi-point streak dating back to last year's NCAA Semis vs. UMass. Overall he comes into 2008 with 20-game point scoring streak going.
• Other Terps with more modes streaks entering this season include: Dan Groot (four-game goal and point scoring streaks), Jeremy Sieverts (three-game goal and point scoring streaks), Brian Farrell (three-game point scoring streak) and Drew Evans (two-game goal and point scoring streaks).
Terps' 83rd Season Of Lacrosse
• The Terps boast an all-time record of 683-225-4 (.751), 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 82 seasons with a .500 or better record, including last season when the Terps went 10-6. 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 90-35 for a .720 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.
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 eight sets of brothers don the red and black together for at least one season.
Harry & Harry: 2004-05-06-07
Brendan & Ian Healy: 2003-04-05
Bryn & Travis Holmes: 2007
Dan & Mike LaMonica: 2002
Chris & Willy Passavia: 2002-03
Brian & Michael Phipps: 2007
Max & Xander Ritz: 2005-06
Mark & Michael White: 2008
Fathers and Sons
• Maryland's family tradition doesn't end with brothers. Fathers and sons are also part of the Terps' tradition and that's never been more evident than this season. This year's Maryland men's lacrosse roster features three players whose father's not only played at Maryland, but won a nation title together. Mike Farrell, father of Brian, Wilson Phipps, father of Brian, and Jake Reed, father of Travis, were all members of the Terps' 1975 NCAA championship squad.
2008 Captains: Adolph, Cinosky, Dalton, Evans & Ritz
• Five players have been named team captains for the 2008 season. The quintet, which was voted on by the team during the preseason, consists of seniors Ryne Adolph, Joe Cinosky, Will Dalton, Drew Evans and Max Ritz.
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 2008 on your computer with GameTracker. Links for all games that will be available can be found at www.umterps.com.
