March 6, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The No. 6 Maryland men's lacrosse and the 18th-ranked Towson Tigers will meet for the 30th time in their intra-state rivalry on Saturday, March 8. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start at Ludwig Field.
• The game between the Terps and the Tigers will be the season debut of Maryland men's lacrosse on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network. The game can be heard on TSRN's flagship station, ESPN Radio 1300 AM (WJFK) in Baltimore and surrounding areas. Steve Stofberg (Maryland '94) returns for his third season as the vioce of Terrapin lacrosse. He will be joined in the booth by analyst Tim McGinnis, who was an All-American goalie for the Terps in 2004.
• Maryland is 3-1 on the season and is coming off of a 13-5 win over Providence on Monday in the Terps' home debut. Travis Reed scored his third straight hat trick for the Terps in the victory over the Friars.
• The Tigers are 1-1 so far in 2008. Towson dropped its opener to Loyola, 13-8, on Feb. 23. The Tigers then topped a Denver squad that was playing on back-to-back days, 10-9, on Sunday, March 2. Towson senior attackman Jonathan Engelke leads the team with seven points on five goals and two assists. Defensively, the Tigers split time in the cage between Billy Sadtler, who has started both games so far, and Matt Antol.
Tickets and Game Promotions
• Click here for ticket information for all 2008 Maryland men's lacrosse home games.
• Click here for a complete list of game promotions for this season.
| Tale
of the Tape |
Maryland |
Category |
Towson |
12.0 |
Goals/Game |
9.0 |
8.3 |
Opp.
Goals/Game |
11.0 |
37.8 |
Shots/Game |
34.5 |
31.8 |
Shot
Pct. |
26.1 |
24.0 |
Shots
on Goal/Game |
19.5 |
63.6 |
Shots
on Goal Pct. |
56.5 |
7.5 |
Saves/Game |
9.0 |
47.6 |
Save
Pct. |
45.0 |
33.5 |
Groundballs/Game |
47.5 |
28.5 |
Opp.
Groundballs/Game |
44.0 |
18.3 |
Turnovers/Game |
25.5 |
16.0 |
Caused
Turnovers/Game |
11.0 |
50.5 |
Face-Off
Pct. |
54.3 |
77.8 |
Clear
Pct. |
80.3 |
76.0 |
Opp.
Clear Pct. |
87.8 |
3.3 |
Penalties/Game |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Penalty
Minutes/Game |
2.5 |
53.8 |
Man-Up
Conversion Pct. |
25.0 |
25.0 |
Opp.
Man-Up Conversion Pct. |
33.3 |
Coaching Match-Up
• Now in his 26th season as a head coach,
Dave Cottle comes into the game with a 251-99 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 70-29 (70.7) in his seven seasons at Maryland.
• Coach Dave Cottle has a 17-9 career record against Towson while coaching at Loyola and Maryland. He was 11-9 vs. the Tigers while at Loyola. He is 6-0 vs. Towson as the coach at Maryland.
• Towson's Tony Seaman is in his 10th year Towson with a 242-130 (.651) record in 27 years at Towson, Johns Hopkins, Penn and C.W. Post. He is 78-57 (.578) in 10 years with the Tigers starting in 1999.
Series History vs. Towson
• In games against Towson, Maryland holds a 24-5 (.828) all-time record in the series that dates to 1971. The Terps have won the last 13 regular-season meetings, including last season's 8-7 win in Baltimore.
• Last season saw the Terps jump out to a 4-1 lead at the half thanks in large part to three first-half goals by Max Ritz. The Tigers staged a comeback, pulling to within two goals with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and had an extra-man opportunity to trim the lead to one. But Maryland's Brian Farrell turned the tables on Towson, scoring a man-down goal that proved to be the game winner in the 8-7 Terrapin victory.
• The 2006 meeting saw All-American Brendan Healy score a hat trick, including the game-winning goal to lead the No. 1-ranked Terrapins to a 9-6 victory over the Tigers. Maryland got a dominating performance out of its defense, which held Towson scoreless in the first half. Steve Whittenberg led the defensive charge for the Terps, causing five Tiger turnovers and picking up four groundballs.
• The 2005 meeting saw the sixth-ranked Terps take a 9-5 decision over the No. 9 Tigers at Unitas Stadium on March 12. Xander Ritz (2-2=4) and Michael Phipps (1-3=4) each totaled four points for Maryland and Bill McGlone netted a hat trick, but it was Andrew Schwartzman who tallied the game-winner by converting on an extra-man opportunity.
• Maryland led 8-1 through three quarters, but Towson rallied for five fourth-quarter goals at Byrd Stadium in College Park on March 13, 2004. The Terps held on for an 8-6 victory largely on the performance of goalie Tim McGinnis, who made 15 saves.
• In the 2003 game at Towson, the Terps got a dynamic performance from then-freshman Joe Walters, who scored the first four goals of his career and added an assist for his first five-point game as a Terp to lead Maryland to a 12-8 victory. I
• The two schools first played in 1971, a 22-6 Maryland win on April 3. The teams did not meet again until 1981 and have met at least once per season since.
• The Tigers have never beaten Maryland in Towson. The Terps are a perfect 11-0 at Towson, although Towson has won three times in the regular season in College Park: Towson, 14-7 (4/12/94), Towson, 13-9 (3/14/92) and Towson, 8-7 (3/17/90).
• Towson has won the only two meetings between the two schools in the postseason. The Tigers beat the Terps 15-11, in the NCAA Semifinals at Syracuse on May 25, 1991. Towson also upset Maryland in College Park in the 2001 NCAA Quarterfinals 12-11.
Towson-Maryland Connections
• Of course when two schools are located less than an hour away from each other there are many connections with the teams. Here are a few:
• Towson offensive assistant coach Andrew "Buggs" Combs is in his sixth year on the sidelines after a standout playing career at Maryland. Combs was a 2001 Terp lacrosse All-American, who became the second player in the storied history of Maryland lacrosse to score 50 goals in a season, which he did five years ago. Combs is also the son of Towson football coach Gordy Combs.
• Former Maryland coach Dick Edell, who retired from the school on Sept. 3, 2001, is a 1968 Towson graduate and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1980.
• Many Terps and Tigers have been high school teammates as well. Maryland senior Jacob Baxter could find himself guarding former Severna Park teammate Blake Best, who is a senior attackman for Towson.Terp junior Jeff Reynolds will be on opposing sidelines from fellow Calvert Hall grads Phil Blevins and Kevin Kelly. Former Boy's Latin (Md.) teammates Brian Farrell, Travis Reed, Brett Weiss and Adam Hagelin will reunite, while St. Mary's high school will be represented by Will Dalton and Jason Carter on the Maryland side and John Lamon and Justin Schneider from Towson. Loyola Blakefield will have Terps Casey Creaney and Jared Gangler and Towson's Matt Antol and Ted Melanson. Junior Kevin Slafkosky will meet fellow Mt. St. Joseph's grads Tommy Beach and Matt Hanzsche.
Individual Terps vs. Towson
• Seven players on the current Maryland roster have recorded points against Towson with
Max Ritz leading the way with five points.
• Ritz had one assist in 2006, but had a four-point effort in the Terps' one-goal victory in 2007 at Towson.
• The game-winner in the '07 clash came from Terrapin long pole Brian Farrell, who banged-home the decisive score in transition while the Terps were a man-down.
• Dan Groot has one goal in each of his two career meetings with the Tigers.
• Drew Evans had a goal and an assist in Maryland's 8-7 win in 2007, while Jeremy Sieverts and Nick Ward each had an assist.
• Goalie Brian Phipps had arguably his best game of his freshman campain against Towson in 2007. The ACC Freshman of the Year turned away a career-best 16 Tiger shots and scooped up four groundballs.
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.
• The defense was solid in allowing just seven goals at Mount St. Mary's on a rainy, foggy afternoon. The fog was the most difficult on the defense as it made the ball very hard for the goalies to see shots clearly. Even so, the Terrapins came up with a good defensive effort, holding the Mount to just one goal over a 22-minute span covering parts of the first, second and third quarters. Junior Mike Griswold led the Terps with three caused turnovers on the afternoon. Overall, 12 Terps combined to force 19 of the Mount's 25 turnovers.
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. This season the Terps were 2-1 in its three-game road trip to open the season, bringing its record to 25-1 (.962).
Streaking Terps
• Just four games into the 2008 season and a lot of streaks have been extended and broken for the Terps.
• Jeremy Sieverts is now the Terp with the longest current point-scoring streak. He extended his current run to seven games with a goal vs. Providence.
• So far in 2008, only three Terps - Sieverts and freshmen attackmen Travis Reed and Ryan Young - have points in every game. Reed is the only Terrapin to have scored a goal in every game so far.
• 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.
• Long pole Brian Farrell had his point scoring streak stopped at four against Mount St. Mary's.
• Dan Groot had his point-scoring streak stopped at six in the Terps' 15-7 loss at No. 2 Duke on March 1.
Home Cooking
• A lot is made in sports about the home-field advantage, and for the Maryland men's lacrosse team that advantage has held true since Coach Cottle arrived in College Park. Since 2002, the Terps are 35-13 (.729) when playing on the Maryland campus. At Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium Maryland is 23-10 (.670) under Cottle, while the Terps have gone 8-3 (.727) at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex and 4-0 at Ludwig Field.
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
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.
• For his performance against the Hoyas, Catalino was named both the ACC Player of the Week (along with UNC goalie Grant Zimmerman) and the University of Maryland's male athlete of the week.
Freshmen Leading The Way
• The season is just about a quarter gone (there's still a long way to go), but the top three scorers for the Terps right now are freshmen. This is rare air for the Maryland program.
• Going back to 1962 only two Terrapins (Mike Mollot, who was a redshirt freshman, in 2000 and Joe Walters in 2003) led the team in points as a rookie. Only four (Walters, Matt Hahn in 1995, Rob Wurzburger in 1988 and Pete Worstell in 1977) led the team in goals and another four (Dan LaMonica in 2001, Mollot, Rob Chomo in 1991 and Tim Cox in 1989) led the squad in assists.
• Grant Catalino are already approaching some freshmen milestones and are poised to crack the freshman class records in several categories. Reed is already tied for 13th on the all-time freshman goals scored list with 12. He is also just seven points shy of the 15th spot on the freshman points list, currently held by Dave Dempsey who had 20 points on 18 goals and two assists in 1970. Young's five assists leaves him five behind Jack Lamon, who had 12 assists in 1976, for 10th place. Catalino trails Lamon (nine scores in '76) by two goals for 15th spot on the goals list. Young is just three back of Lamon in goals.
Fast Starts
• Since Coach Cottle arrived in College Park in 2002 only 13 players have totaled 12 points or more in the first four games of a season. One of those is 2008 freshman attackman
Travis Reed, who also happens to be one of only two Terps in the last seven seasons to score 12 goals in the first four games (
Xander Ritz in 2006 was the other).
Two Terps Named To Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List
• A pair of seniors - defenseman
Joe Cinosky and midfielder/attackman
Max Ritz-- were named to the preseason "Watch List" for the 2008 Tewaaraton Trophy. For Cinosky this is his second time on the list, while Ritz is making his first appearance.
• The Tewaaraton Trophy is awarded each year to the top male and female varsity lacrosse player, as chosen by the selection committee. The seventh annual award will be given at a banquet in June. The event will take place in Washington D.C. at the National Geographic Society headquarters.
Three Terps Named To U.S. U-19 Team
• Three Terrapin freshmen will represent the University of Maryland this summer at the 2008 ILF Under-19 World Championships, which are scheduled for July 3-12 in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
• Midfielder Tony Mendes, defender Max Schmidt and attackman Ryan Young were selected to the 23-man roster following a four-day tryout last summer in Baltimore.
Terps' 83rd Season Of Lacrosse
• The Terps boast an all-time record of 686-226-4 (.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 93-36 for a .721 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.
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.
