Nov. 12, 2009

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 20 Maryland Terrapin women's soccer team (12-5-2, 4-4-2 ACC) earned the No. 4 seed in the North Carolina bracket and will serve as a host school for the first and second rounds of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The 20th-ranked Terps will take on Monmouth on Friday, Nov. 13, at Ludwig Field at 5 p.m.

• Maryland, which is one of 64 teams selected to play in the tournament, is making its 10th overall appearance and boasts a record of 12-5-2. The Hawks, 15-4-1 overall, earned their bid by winning the NEC championship.

• The other two teams selected to the College Park pod were Villanova (11-5-5) and Washington State (13-5-2). The Wildcats and Cougars will play in the 8 p.m. game following the Maryland-Monmouth game.

• Ticket Information: Tickets for the double-header are $8 for adults and $4 for students. Advance tickets are available through the Maryland ticket office by calling 1-800-IM-A-TERP.

Parking & Travel Information
• Friday evening will be a busy one on the Maryland campus. Due the number of events on campus, including events at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center, which are located near Ludwig Field, and the Terrapin men's basketball season opener at Comcast Center, fans are strongly encouraged to enter campus via the Adelphi Road entrance. Parking will be available in Lot 1B and Lot 1D.

Directions:
From Route One South
• Take 193 West to Adelphi Road South (left onto Adelphi Road)
• At the next intersection, turn left onto Campus Drive
• To enter the parking lot :
Turn left at the next stop light onto Presidential Drive.
Turn right at the stop sign and proceed into Lot 1D or through the lot into Lot 1B

• For a complete listing of all Maryland athletic events this weekend and important parking information click here.

Event Multimedia
• Fans will be able to follow listen to the game live on the internat at WMUC Sports.com. Fans will also be able to follow all of the action on umterps.com via Gametracker.

• The Washington State-Villanova game will also be available on Gametracker.

Maryland Returns To The NCAA Tournament For 10th Time
• The Terps return to the NCAA Women's College Cup for the first time since 2004 and 10th time overall. Maryland holds a 8-8-1 record in tournament play and is 6-2-1 all-time in the first round.

• Twice the Terps have made it into the quarterfinals (1995 and 1996), while also making it through to the second round in 1998, 1999 and 2002.

Maryland's Individual NCAA Records

Maryland's Team NCAA Records

Scouting The Terps
• After going a perfect 8-0 in its non-conference schedule the Terps went 4-4-2 in the ACC and dropped a 3-0 decision to No. 3 North Carolina in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

• 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.

• Four different goal scorers gave Maryland its first conference win of the season, a 4-0 drubbing of Duke in Durham, N.C., on Oct. 4. Freshman Danielle Hubka scored the first goal for the Terps for her first career game-winning goal. That score was followed by first-half tallies by junior Molly Dreska and sophomore Jasmyne Spencer and a 90th-minute goal by sophomore Sade Ayinde. Sophomore Lydia Hastings had two assists on the day, while junior Caitlin McDowel, sophomore Domenica Hodak and sophomore Kristen McAfee also had helpers.

• After a scoreless first half the Terps got on the board first when redshirt sophomore Mallory Baker scored her first collegiate goal in the 56th minute. Virginia tied the match at 1-1 a few minutes later, but junior Caitlin MdDowell scored in the 79th minute to give Maryland a 2-1 lead. Virginia tied the match at 2-2 on a 90th-minute goal and that's the way things would end, giving each team a point in the conference standings.

• Maryland finally returned home to host No. 6 Virginia Tech and the Terps put together another statement game in a 3-1 win over the Hokies. Freshman Danielle Hubka scored to give Maryland a 1-0 lead, but a controversial penalty kick was awarded to VT and it tied the match at 1-1. But less than two minutes later sophomore Ashley Grove got on the end of a Jasmyne Spencer cross to put the Terps back on top. Sophomore Becky Kaplan added her first career goal to lock the game away for Maryland.

• On a rainy, cold night the Terps battled No. 7 Boston College to a 1-1 tie. Sophomore Becky Kaplan got Maryland on the board in the 75th minute off assists by sophomore Sade Ayinde and freshman Caitlin Mooney. BC knotted the match in the 83rd minute on a 30-yard shot into the upper right 90 by Kristen Mewis.

• For 81 minutes it looked like "Lady Luck" was going to overlook the 10th-ranked Maryland women's soccer team in its game against NC State Sunday afternoon at Ludwig Field. Posts, crossbars and a stingy Wolfpack defense stifled the Terrapin offense for much of the afternoon, but the Terps rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final nine minutes of regulation and won the game, 3-2, six minutes into the first overtime. Sophomore Ashley Grove finished a cross from sophomore Jasmyne Spencer to cut the Wolfpack lead to one in the 81st minute. Then, with two minutes remaining in the game, junior Molly Dreska got on the end of an Olivia Wagner corner kick and headed it into the far upper corner to send the game into overtime. It was another set piece in the sixth minute of the first overtime that gave Maryland the victory. A foul by the Wolfpack gave Maryland a free kick near midfield. Wagner sent the ball into the box, but the ball didn't find a Terrapin player. Instead the ball found NC State defender Gia Cipollini and her header went into the Wolfpack goal, giving the Terps the 3-2 win on an own goal.

• After a scoreless first half, the Terps came out fast and scored three times in the final 45 minutes to top Clemson, 3-0, on the road on Oct. 22. Sophomore Jasmyne Spencer continued her breakout season with two goals, the first on an assist from freshman Danielle Hubka and the second on a rebound put-back off of an Ashely Grove shot that found the post. Grove scored the third goal for Maryland. Senior All-ACC goalkeeper Mary Casey tied her season high with five saves in the team's seventh shutout of the season.

• The Terps' home unbeaten streak of nine matches, dating back to last season, came to an end on Oct. 29 with a 3-1 loss to No. 11 Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons took a 2-0 lead into halftime, but Maryland got back into the game with an Ashley Grove goal in the 75th minute. Despite a valaint effort, the Terps could not complete the comeback and Wake got a late goal from Kaley Fountain to round out the scoring.

• Maryland closed its 2009 regular season with a valiant effort on "Senior Day," but it wasn't enough as the Terps fell to No. 4 North Carolina, 1-0, on a Maria Lubrano header off a corner kick in the eighth minute. Senior goalkeeper Mary Casey set her career high with nine saves on the day.

• The Terps' first trip to the ACC tournament in four years ended like the previous two trips ... with a loss to North Carolina. The fourth-ranked Tar Heels, who won the tournament in dominating fasion with a 3-0 victory over No. 3 Florida State in the finals, topped No. 13 Maryland, 3-0.

• Sophomore Jasmyne Spencer continues to lead the team in points and goals with 23 and nine, respectively. She also shares the team lead in assists with junior Caitlin McDowell and fellow sophomores Sade Ayinde and Lydia Hastings, who also have five. Senior All-ACC goalkeeper Mary Casey has played every minute for Maryland in net and has a goals-against average of 1.08 with a save percentage of .750.

Scouting The Hawks
• Monmouth won the NEC Tournament to earn that conference's automatic bid into the 2009 tournament. The Hawks are 15-4-1 overall on the season.

• The Hawks started the season with an 0-2 mark after a road loss to William & Mary and a home defeat to Seton Hall. But from there Monmouth won four straight. That string was interrupted by a 2-1 loss to Lehigh, but the Hawks responded with a 1-0 home win over Navy on Sept. 26. That was the beginning of a seven-game stretch where they went 6-0-1. The last time Monmouth tasted defeat was on Oct. 23 when Central Connecticut State pulled out a 1-0 win over the Hawks. Monmouth then won three straight to finish the regular season before winning the NEC tournament with wins over Quinnipiac and CCSU.

• Junior forward Mary Wilks is MU's leading scorer with 31 points on 13 goals and five assists. Wilks' 13 goals leads the NEC and her 31 points ranks second in the conference. Defensively, junior goalkeeper Lia Fierro has played every minute in goal for the Hawks and has a 0.49 goals-against average, which is tops in the NEC, and a .851 save percentage.

The Monmouth Series
• Maryland holds a 2-1-2 all-time record vs. the Hawks.

• The two teams played every year from 1989 to 1993. The two teams first played in the 1989 WAGS tournament in Ft. Belvoir, Va., with the two teams battling to a 0-0 tie. In 1990 the Terps travelled to Monmouth and left with a 3-0 loss. Maryland got some revenge a year later with a 1-0 win in College Park. In 1992 the two teams played to another tie, this time knotting at 1-1. The last time these two teams shared the same field was an offensive slugfest in 1993 that saw the No. 14 Terps emerge with a 6-5 win.

Also Coming To College Park
• Rounding out the College Park pod are a pair of at-large selections - No. 18 Washington State and Villanova.

Spencer & Hubka Earn All-ACC Honors
• Sophomore Jasmyne Spencer was named to the All-ACC first team, while Danielle Hubka earned a spot on the All-Freshman team.

• Spencer has enjoyed a breakthough season in her second year in the Terrapin program. The Bay Shore, N.Y., native started the year with the game-winning goal in the 3-0 win over Army and hasn't slowed up since. She leads the team with 23 points on nine goals and five assists. Her 23 points are already the most for a Terrapin in a season since 2003 when Kimmy Francis finished with 24. Her nine goals is also the most since 2004 when Mallory Mahar also had nine in her All-America season.

• Hubka has been solid for the Terps in her first season in College Park. After missing the first two games due to injury, the Strongsville, Ohio, native scored her first career goal in her second game, the Terps' 5-2 win over Loyola. She earned a starting spot in the midfield in the team's 1-0 victory over No. 22 Santa Clara. She was moved from the midfield to forward early in the conference season and responded with the game-winning goal in the 4-0 win at Duke. Overall on the year Hubka has eight points on three goals and two assists. She is the first Maryland field player to earn All-Freshman honors since Nataly Arias was selected in 2004.

Ranked Terps
• The Terps dropped to No. 20 in the latest Soccer America Top 25 after losing to No. 1 seed North Carolina, 3-0, in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. The final NSCAA poll of the regular season finds the Terps as the No. 19 team in the country with 213 points.

At Ludwig Field
• Since its opening in 1995, Ludwig Field has proved to be a tremendous home-field advantage for the Terps women's soccer team. All-time Maryland is 97-46-16 (.660) at Ludwig Field.

• Through the seasons, the Terps have had a knack for shutting teams out at Ludwig Field. Maryland has won 66 of its 96 victories (68.8%) at Ludwig Field via shutout. Add in the nine 0-0 ties the Terps have had at Ludwig Field and it totals 75 times that Maryland has shutout its opponent in 159 games (47.2%).

Youth Movement
• So far this season the Terps have scored 36 goals, it highest season output since 2003 (36), but of those 36 goals 30 have come from either freshmen or sophomores. That means that more than 83 percent of Maryland's goals have come from freshmen or sophomores.

• The impact of the underclassmen is also evident when looking at assists. Maryland has 42 assists on the year with 31 of those (73.8 percent) coming from freshmen or sophomores.

• Leading the way for the younger Terps is sophomore Jasmyne Spencer, who after going pointless as a freshman in 2008, is enjoying a breakthrough season this year. She started the year with the game-winning goal in the 3-0 win over Army and hasn't slowed up since. She leads the team with 23 points on nine goals and five assists. Her 23 points are already the most for a Terrapin in a season since 2003 when Kimmy Francis finished with 24. Her nine goals is also the most since 2004 when Mallory Mahar also had nine in her All-America season.

Head Coach Brian Pensky
• Brian Pensky is in his fifth, and finest, season as the head coach of the Maryland women's soccer program. After helping lead the Terrapin men's program to three-straight appearances in the College Cup, Pensky took over the women's soccer program prior to the 2005 season. He has steadily built the program back to prominence and has it on the verge of its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2004. Pensky owns an overall head coaching record of 35-44-13 (.451).

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.

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.