March 5, 2010

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Maryland placed three on the 2009 ACC All-Academic Team - Mary Casey, Molly Dreska and Caitlin McDowell - the conference announced recently.

Casey, who was selected in the fourth round with the 36th overall pick in the 2009 WPS Draft, closed out her stellar career as a Terp by helping lead Maryland to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament and a 14-6-2 overall record. As a senior in 2009, Casey anchored a Terrapin defense that posted nine shutouts and held opponents to less than one goal per game. A 2008 first team All-ACC selection, Casey finished her career with a school-record 1.03 career goals against average. She also ranks fourth all-time with 13 career shutouts and is seventh on the school's all-time list with 136 saves. Casey, a second team CoSIDA Acadmic All-District selection, is set to graduate with her degree in kinesiology with a 3.916 GPA.

Dreska, a native of Rockville Centre, N.Y., enters her fifth season as a Terrapin and is coming off of her finest offensive season. Dreska finished the 2009 season ranked third on the team in goals (5), assists (4) and points (14). She saw action in all 22 games and made 19 starts. Dreska's first career goal lifted the Terps to a 1-0 victory over James Madison on Sept. 13. She scored the game-tying goal in Maryland's 3-2 overtime victory over NC State and assisted on Jasmyne Spencer's goal in the 1-0 win over Washington State to send the Terps to the NCAA Sweet 16. Dreska currently maintains a 3.3 GPA as a marketing major in The Robert H. Smith School of Business.

McDowell, a native of Plano, Texas, led the team in assists in 2009 with six. That total ties her for 13th on Maryland's single-season assists list. For her career, McDowell has totaled 12 assists, which ranks 11th on Maryland's all-time list. Last season McDowell assisted on Ashley Grove's game-winning goal in Maryland's 1-0 win over No. 22 Santa Clara and made her first career start at wide back and helped the Terps beat Brown, 3-1, to cap an undefeated non-conference schedule. McDowell, a first team CoSIDA Acadmic All-District selection, currently maintains a 3.92 GPA as a marketing major in The Robert H. Smith School of Business.

To be eligible for All-Academic Team consideration, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during her academic career.

The 2009 ACC All-Academic Women's Soccer team is as follows: