Oct. 2, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The No. 22 Maryland Terrapin women's soccer team (8-2-0, 0-2-0 ACC) will look to get it first ACC victory of the season when it travels to Duke (4-4-3, 0-1-1 ACC) on Sunday, Oct. 4. Opening kick is slated for 2 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium.
Event Multimedia
Fans will be able to follow all the action as the Terps battle the Blue Devils on LiveStats.
Ranked Terps
The Terps fell to No. 22 in the latest Soccer America Top 25.
Maryland also held onto its ranking in this week's NSCAA Top 25. The Terrapins are now at No. 24 with 91 points.
Scouting The Terps
After going a perfect 8-0 in its non-conference schedule, Maryland dropped its first two ACC contests and now stands at 8-2-0 on the season.
Maryland opened its 2009 season with a two-game road trip to New York for games at Army and Fordham. In the season opener at Army, the Terrapins dominated the Black Knights en route to a 3-0 shutout victory. After a scoreless first half, sophomore Ashley Grove got the Terps on the board with the team's first goal of the year off an assist by senior Megan Watson. Less than two minutes later, sophomore Jasmyne Spencer tallied her first collegiate goal. Senior goalkeeper Mary Casey started the play with a good punt, which was then flicked on by junior Caitlin McDowell. The third goal came was an unassisted blast by freshman Caitlin Mooney.
After the Army win, Maryland moved to the Bronx to challenge the Fordham Rams. This time the Terps got on the board midway through the first half when freshman Olivia Wagner played the ball through to Spencer, who beat her defender and finished from 20 yards out with a low shot. Fordham tied the game at 1-1 in the 53rd minute, but it took Maryland less than 30 seconds to score the go-ahead goal. Once again it was Spencer scoring the goal, with the assist going to Grove, to give Maryland the 2-1 victory.
The Terps continued their winning ways in their home opener on Friday, August 28 against Seton Hall. Freshmen Olivia Wagner and Caitlin Mooney scored goals for Maryland, leading the Terrapins to a 2-0 victory over the Pirates. Wagner scored the first goal on a 25-yard blast that was too much for the Seton Hall keeper to handle in the 51st minute. Mooney added the insurance goal on a quick turn-and-shoot effort in the 81st minute.
The undefeated streak was in jeopardy for a half in the Terps' game against Loyola. The Greyhounds took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but that didn't stand up for long. Sophomore Sade Ayinde, who was inserted into the line-up at the beginning of the second half, scored in the 51st minute to knot the score at 1-1. Less than a minute later freshman Danielle Hubka gave Maryland the lead with a 30-yard shot into the upper right 90. After the Greyhounds tied the match in the next minute, the Terps regained the lead in the 53rd minute on another Ayinde goal. Ayinde was on the giving end of Terps' fourth goal,playing a give-and-go with freshman Caitlin Mooney, who finished from 15 yards into the lower left corner. SophomoreAshley Grove finished off the scoring with a 40-yard rip from the far left side of the field, giving the Terps a 5-2 victory.
Maryland faced its toughest test so far on Sept. 4 in traditional powerhouse Santa Clara, but a goal by sophomore Ashley Grove propelled the Terps to a 1-0 victory. Senior keeper Mary Casey made five stops to earn her third shutout of the season.
The Terps were not sharp when they played at American on Sept. 9, but Maryland still found a way to win the game - a 1-0 decision. Jasmyne Spencer scored the lone goal of the game in the 49th minute with the assist going to Caitlin McDowell.
Maryland won its third-straight 1-0 decision on Sept. 11 when it defeated James Madison, an NCAA Sweet 16 team from 2008. For the fourth time this season the game was 0-0 at the half, but the Terps came out fast in the second half, putting pressure on the Dukes. Maryland had a goal taken off the board when the referee blew an early whistle in the 47th minute. The Terps were awarded a penalty shot on the play, but JMU goalkeeper Diane Wszalek came up with the stop to keep the game scoreless. That's how it would remain until the 60th minute when junior Molly Dreska put in her first career goal. Sophomore Ashley Grove made a hard run down the left side and crossed the ball back to the middle of the field to Dreska. Dreska then tried a fake to buy some space, but the JMU defender played her tightly. That didn't matter, because Dreska created a sliver of space and rifled a shot to the back post, past a diving Wszalek, to give the Terps the 1-0 lead.
The 1-0 victory-streak came to an end, but the winning streak stayed alive with a 3-1 win over Brown in the Terps' non-conference finale. The victory gave the Terps (8-0-0) their first undefeated record in non-conference play since 1996. That season Maryland was 13-0 in regular season non-conference games. Molly Dreska continued her hot streak, scoring the first two goals for the Terps. Sophomore Jasmyne Spencer, who picked up an assist on Dreska's second goal, scored the insurance goal for Maryland.
Maryland opened its conference schedule with the difficult five-day road trip to Florida. The Terps showed they can hang with the nation's elite by giving the No. 5 Florida State Seminoles all they could handle. In the end, FSU came away with a 2-1 victory, but Maryland showed its mettle. After falling behind 1-0, sophomore Jasmyne Spencer scored her sixth goal of the season to tie the game. The Seminoles got the go-ahead goal late in the first half to seal the win. After that the Terps went to Miami and gave up two set-piece goals to the Hurricanes and dropped a 2-0 decision in Coral Gables.
Sophomore Jasmyne Spencer continues to lead the team in points and goals with 14 and six, respectively. Junior Molly Dreska is three points back with nine points on three goals and three assists. Dreska is tied with junior Caitlin McDowell and senior Megan Watson for the team lead in assists. Senior All-ACC goalkeeper Mary Casey has played every minute for Maryland so far in net and has a goals-against average of 0.80 with a save percentage of .758.
Scouting The Blue Devils
Duke enters Sunday's game with a 4-4-3 record overall and a 0-1-1 mark in the ACC.
The Blue Devils opened the season with a 3-0 win over Gardner-Webb before dropping a pair of games at the Carolina Classic. Duke rebounded with a 3-0 home win over UNC Wilmington to even its mark at 2-2. A 0-0 tie with UNLV and a 2-1 loss at Florida were followed by wins over Alabama A&M and Auburn. But those were the Blue Devils' last wins, as they have gone 0-1-2 in their last three games. Duke has played in four-straight overtime games and has gone into extra minutes a total of five times this year.
Senior forward KayAnne Gummersall is Duke's leading scorer with 14 points on six goals and two assists. Defensively, freshman goalkeeper Tara Campbell has played 849 of the Blue Devils' 1,056 minutes and has a 1.06 goals-against average and a .787 save percentage.
Deeg's Diary
Every week Colleen Deegan is filing "Deeg's Diary" on umterps.com. Log on each week for her latest insights on Terps women's soccer.
Looking Ahead
POWER in PINK: The October 18 game with NC State is the Terps' 2009 Power in Pink Game. The Under Armour® Power in Pink Games pay tribute to women everywhere who are fighting breast cancer. By raising awareness and contributing a percentage of Power in Pink jersey sales to breast cancer charities, Under Armour® and the teams they outfit hope to bring us all closer to an end to the disease.
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 2009 on your computer with GameTracker. Links for all games that will be available can be found at www.umterps.com.