Aug. 8, 2011
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COLLEGE PARK, MD. -
Throughout this series that will preview the 2011 Maryland women's soccer team and season fans will be introduced to many of the key offensive and defensive players, potential impact newcomers and a look at one of the Terps' most challenging schedules ever.
Part 1. With successful 2009 and 2010 seasons to build on and the exposure for the sport created by the Women's World Cup, will there be an increase in interest for the Terps in 2011?
Soccer is the world's most popular sport and the 2010 FIFA Women's World Cup helped raise awareness of women's soccer to another level thanks in large part to the U.S. National Team reaching the championship match.
The Terps, who play an exciting brand of attacking soccer, are coming off of their most successful back-to-back seasons in nearly 15 years and are poised to make another deep run in the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
Those two factors have Maryland head coach Brian Pensky excited about the prospect of larger crowds coming to Ludwig Field to cheer on the Terps in 2011 and beyond.
"For the past few years we've maintained that once we start to win, people will notice, and then they'll want to come out and support our team," said Pensky. "And we saw that towards the end of last year. And certainly over the last month or so, our country got on board in rooting for the US women - so for the sport's sake, and our players' sake, hopefully there will be a spill-over effect. We feel that our game is an attractive one, and therefore our kids deserve good crowds, and positive attention."
Fans coming to College Park to watch the Terps will have a lot of familiar faces to root for as Maryland returns eight starters and 18 letterwinners from a 2010 team that finished the season with an 18-2-3 record and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
