Feb. 25, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The fourth-ranked Maryland men's lacrosse team plays its second road game in four days when it travels to Emmitsburg, Md., to face Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday, February 26. The game is slated for a 3 p.m. start at the Mount's Waldron Family Stadium.
• The Terps are coming off of a season-opening 11-6 victory over No. 4 Georgetown on Saturday. Five freshmen combined to score nine of the Terps' 11 goals in their respective collegiate debuts. Leading the way for Maryland was freshman attackman Grant Catalino with four goals, which is the most goals by a Terrapin freshman in his first game since Rob Wurzburger had four goals in 1988. Defensively, Maryland got a solid showing across the board, including goalies Jason Carter and Brian Phipps, who split time in the cage. Cater made seven saves and allowed four goals, while Phipps had three stops with just two goals allowed.
• The contest will be Mount St. Mary's season opener. At the helm for the Mount will be Tom Gavante, who is in his 13th season as Mount St. Mary's head coach. The Mount was 4-10 in 2007 with a 4-4 record in the MAAC. The Mount returns only one starter from that 2007 team - senior defender Phil Thomas.
| Tale
of the Tape |
Maryland |
Category |
MSM ('07) |
11.0 |
Goals/Game |
6.7 |
6.0 |
Opp.
Goals/Game |
12.8 |
30.0 |
Shots/Game |
28.1 |
36.7 |
Shot
Pct. |
23.9 |
16.0 |
Shots
on Goal/Game |
16.4 |
53.3 |
Shots
on Goal Pct. |
58.4 |
10.0 |
Saves/Game |
13.3 |
62.5 |
Save
Pct. |
50.8 |
30.0 |
Groundballs/Game |
29.1 |
28.0 |
Opp.
Groundballs/Game |
36.8 |
16.0 |
Turnovers/Game |
21.3 |
12.0 |
Caused
Turnovers/Game |
N/A |
33.3 |
Face-Off
Pct. |
47.2 |
78.9 |
Clear
Pct. |
74.1 |
75.0 |
Opp.
Clear Pct. |
80.5 |
3.0 |
Penalties/Game |
3.6 |
2.5 |
Penalty
Minutes/Game |
3.1 |
50.0 |
Man-Up
Conversion Pct. |
24.5 |
66.7 |
Opp.
Man-Up Conversion Pct. |
38.0 |
Coaching Match-up
• Now in his 26th season as a head coach,
Dave Cottle comes into the game with a 249-98 career record for a 71.8 win percentage, sixth-highest among active coaches with at least 100 career wins. His win total is fifth among active coaches. He is 68-27 (70.8) in his six seasons at Maryland.
• Cottle has a 2-0 record against Mount St. Mary's. First was an 18-0 shutout in 2002, his first season as the head coach at Maryland. Last season, the Terps defeated the Mount 18-3 at Ludwig Field.
• The Mount's Tom Gravante is in his 13th season as a head coach, all at Mount St. Mary's. He holds an all-time record of 88-103 (.461).
Series History vs. Mount St. Mary's
• Maryland has won all seven meetings against Mount St. Mary's dating back to the first match-up in 1988. The Terps topped the Mountaineers 19-8 in that first game. They followed that with a 21-2 win in 1989, an 18-7 victory in 1994, a 19-3 blowout in the 2000 season opener and a 12-4 win at Emmitsburg on April 24, 2001. Maryland picked up its last shutout on Feb. 26, 2002 with an 18-0 victory. Last season the Terps took an 18-3 win over the Mount on March 20, 2007.
• Last season's 18-3 Maryland victory featured a seven-point effort by Michael Phipps on a hat trick and four assists. In total, 13 Terps scored goals in the win.
• The series took a five-year hiatus since these two teams met in 2002. That game marks the last time Maryland has shutout an opponent. The 18-0 victory was the program's first shutout since 1970. Five Terps scored two or more goals in the victory. Leading the way was senior captain Mike Morsell, who had a career-day with seven points on four goals and three assists.
• The 2001 game was the first between the teams at the Mount. In that game, 2001 grads Chris Malone (3 goals, 1 assist) and Andrew "Buggs" Combs (3 goals) led the offense. Dan LaMonica and Mike Mollot each had two goals.
• Maryland has outscored Mount St. Mary's 125-27 in the seven games, never allowing the Mount more than seven goals.
• Against teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Maryland is 9-0 all-time with seven wins coming against the Mount and one win each over Providence in 1999 and VMI in 1993.
Individual Terps vs. Mount St. Mary's
• Nine current Terps have scored goals vs. the Mount with an additional pair of Terrapins chipping in assists -- all coming in last season's 18-3 Maryland win.
• Drew Evans, Chris Rhine and Adam Sear each scored a pair of goals, while All-American Dan Groot and Casey Creaney had a goal and an assist. Max Ritz and Scott Tompkins had two assists each.
• Will Dalton, Danny Gallagher, Zach Hinton and Spencer McAllister all had a goal apiece.
• Rhine, Hinton and McAllister's goals were the first scores of their careers.
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.
• The emphasis on team defense was evident in the Terps' 2008 opener at No. 4 Georgetown. Maryland held the lauded Hoya offense to just six goals and two of those came when Georgetown converted on man-up opportunities. The Terrapin defense held Georgetown's starting attack and first midfield, which combined for 95 goals (6.3 per game) in 2007, to just three scores.
Streaking Terps
• Just one game into the 2008 season and a lot of streaks have been broken for the Terps.
• Senior midfielder/attackman Max Ritz had both his 17-game multi-point streak and 20-game point scoring streak snapped at Georgetown. The last time Ritz did not have at least a point in a game was on April 30, 2006 vs. Virginia in the ACC tournament final. The last time Ritz failed to have multiple points in a contest was on May 21, 2007 when he had just one goal in the Terps NCAA tournament quarterfinal victory over Princeton.
• Dan Groot had his four-game goal scoring streak stopped vs. the Hoyas, but extended his point scoring streak to five with an assist on Grant Catalino's man-up goal in the second quarter.
• Jeremy Sieverts exteneded his point scoring streak to four with a pair of assists, but broke his goal scoring streak at three games at Georgetown.
• Long pole Brian Farrell's point scoring streak is now up to four after he picked up an assist on Travis Reed's first career score just 15 seconds into the second quarter against the Hoyas.
Terps' 83rd Season Of Lacrosse
• The Terps boast an all-time record of 684-225-4 (.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 91-35 for a .722 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.
Freshmen Starters
• There was a lot of speculation about which freshmen would start in the season opener at Georgetown. The question was answered with four (see below). But freshmen starting the season opener is nothing new for the Terps under Coach Cottle. Since 2002 there have now been eight Terrapins that have started the season opener as freshmen.
2002: None
2003: Joe Walters vs. Duke
2004: None
2005: Max Ritz vs. Georgetown
2006: Dan Groot vs. Georgetown
2007: Brian Phipps vs. Bellarmine
2008: Grant Catalino, Travis Reed, Max Schmidt and Ryan Young at Georgetown
A Memorable Debut
• Freshman
Grant Catalino scored four goals in the Terps' 11-6 season-opening win at Georgetown on Feb. 23. That performance marked the most goals by a Maryland freshman since Rob Wurzburger tallied four scores in a 19-4 win over Hambden-Sydney.
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.
Maryland In Season Openers
• Maryland has a 79-3-1 (.958) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1924 season. The Terps have won their last 15 openers and 23 of the last 24, 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.)
15 Straight In Season Openers
• After beating No. 4 Georgetown to open the 2008 season the Terps now have a 15-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 (four times) and Bellarmine. Over the 15-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 204-78 (an average score of 13.6-5.2) in those games.
• The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 15 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.
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.
