Aug. 24, 2012

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - No. 9 Maryland opens the regular season with a highly-anticipated rematch against No. 7 Louisville Sunday at Ludwig Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen live on TerpsTV Premium.

The Terps picked up a pair of draws against No. 3 Creighton and Penn State to round out their preseason slate. Maryland will be led by John Stertzer and Taylor Kemp in 2012. The senior duo was tabbed to the 2012 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List last week.

Louisville defeated the Terps 4-2 in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament last season in College Park. The Cardinals return seven starters from last year's squad which finished the year 14-7-2.

Event Multimedia
· For a listing of games available on Terps TV and information on how to purchase, click here via TerpsTV All-Access.

· Fans will be able to follow all of the action on umterps.com via Gametracker.

· Maryland's student-run radio station, WMUC, will also be broadcasting the match at WMUCsports.com.

Tickets
· Click here for ticket information for all 2012 Maryland men's soccer home games.

Parking Information
General Information: After 4 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends, there is no charge for parking in Lots Z1 or 1b or in Regents Drive Garage. Lots R2 and R3 are limited to vehicles displaying current valid permits for the respective lots at all times. The Stadium Drive Garage is closed on weekends.

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Scouting The Terps

· The Terps have reloaded for the 2012 campaign, head coach Sasho Cirovski's 20th at Maryland. With a talented recruiting class and the return of All-American midfielder John Stertzer, there is plenty of room for optimism as Maryland aims to return to the College Cup for the first time since 2008 when it captured the national championship.

· Stertzer tallied a career-high 14 goals as a junior and will anchor the midfield as a captain for the Terps in 2012. All-ACC selections Sunny Jane and Patrick Mullins will also be called upon to pitch in offensively.

· Taylor Kemp returns for his fourth season as a starter. The senior captain, along with Stertzer, was tabbed to the 2012 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. He will team up with senior London Woodberry to lead the squad on defense. Maryland will look to its youth to seal up the goal as sophomore Keith Cardona, redshirt freshman Jordan Tatum and freshman Cody Niedermeier will compete for the starting job at keeper.

· Maryland returns eight starters from last year but expect competition to be very heated as Cirovski calls this roster his deepest in 20 years.

2012 Preseason Preview
· Offensive Weapons Work to Replace Townsend
· Stertzer Looks to Improve on Stellar 2011
· Kemp, Woodberry Return to Seal up Backline

Scouting The Cardinals
· Louisville went 14-7-2 last season and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight after dropping Maryland 4-2 in the Sweet Sixteen at Ludwig Field.

· Louisville returns seven starters from its 2011 squad. The Cardinals lost five starters from last year, including four year starting keeper Andre Boudreaux. Four of those five starters were drafted in the 2012 MLS Super Draft, with three players taken in the first round.

· Three starters return to the backline for the Cardinals in seniors Greg Cochrane and Brock Granger along with Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year Andrew Farrell.

· This is the third meeting between the two programs with each program winning one match in the series.

Poll Central
· Follow the Terps and their opponents in the 2012 season via these national polls:
NSCAA Poll
Soccer America Poll
TopDrawerSoccer.com Poll

Terps Picked First in ACC Preseason Poll
· Maryland is the preseason favorite to claim the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Championship, according to a vote of the league's nine head coaches.

· The Terps, who return two MAC Hermann Trophy Preseason Watch List candidates in senior defender Taylor Kemp and senior midfielder John Stertzer, amassed 72 total points in the balloting.

· Defending NCAA and ACC champion North Carolina placed second with 71 points in the coaches' vote.

Terp Duo Named to MAC Hermann Trophy List
· Maryland seniors Taylor Kemp and John Stertzer were named nominees for the 2012 MAC Hermann Trophy, the highest individual honor in intercollegiate soccer.

· Kemp is a three-year starter in Maryland's backline. The Highlands Ranch, Colo., native has started in all 66 games he's appeared in, aiding the Terps to an impressive 48-13-6 record. One of the top attacking defenders in the nation, Kemp has also netted a pair of goals and added 10 assists.

· Stertzer had a breakout campaign in 2011, netting NSCAA Third Team All-America honors after boasting a career-high 14 goals. The Oakton, Va., product, was also a First Team All-ACC selection. He tallied a squad-best five game-winners.

Terp Rookies Looking to Make Impact
· Head coach Sasho Cirovski announced the Terps' 2012 signing class, his 20th at Maryland, this spring.

· The Terps signed eight players to this year's highly-touted class. The class consists of five players on College Soccer News' Top 150 Recruits, including Michael Ambrose (#2), Christiano Francois (#45), Cody Niedermeier (#58), Schillo Tshuma (#60), Dakota Edwards (#83), and Donovan Fraser (#102).

· Tsubasa Endoh, David Kabelik and Ryan Reid also signed letters of intent to play for Maryland, which made its 10th consecutive Sweet 16 appearance last season.

#9 Terps Draw at #3 Creighton
· The No. 9 Maryland men's soccer team battled No. 3 Creighton to a 3-3 draw in preseason action at Morrison Stadium.

· The Terps jumped out to a 2-0 lead courtesy of a pair of early goals in the match's first 10 minutes. Dan Metzger found John Stertzer for a header at 7:14 for Maryland's first score of the preseason. Two minutes later, Patrick Mullins gave the Terps a two-goal cushion.

· Creighton would answer with two goals in-and-around the 30-minute mark before Jereme Raley put the Terps back on top with an unassisted goal at 44:32.

· Jays' midfielder Jose Ribas tied the game with 13 minutes remaining with a direct kick score.

#9 Terps Rally to Tie Penn State
· The No. 9 Maryland men's soccer team rallied to tie Penn State 2-2 in the last exhibition game of the preseason Monday at a rain-soaked Ludwig Field.

· Down 2-0, Maryland midfielder John Stertzer put the Terps on the scoreboard in the 75th minute. Dan Metzger started the scoring drive with a serve into the box before Patrick Mullins crossed it to Stertzer, who then finished from close range.

· Terp rookie Schillo Tshuma tied the game at two just three minutes later. Mullins served a long-range ball from the nearside of the field and Tshuma chipped the ball into the near corner.

· Tshuma nearly put Maryland ahead with 15 seconds remaining in the game, but his shot ricocheted off the crossbar.

18 and Counting!
· With a 14-4-3 record last season, Maryland clinched yet another winning season - its 18th consecutive.

· Prior to this season, Maryland averaged 15.5 wins per season since 1994. The Terps have had three 20+ win seasons in that span and have eclipsed the 15-victory mark 10 times.

· Stertzer shot at a .452 clip, while his shots on goal percentage was a staggering .677.

· The Terps have not lost more than two games at home in a season since 2001, recording a 101-12-8 record in the last 10 years.

Lovin' Ludwig!
· There are few venues in all of college athletics quite like the always-raucous Ludwig Field on the campus of the University of Maryland.

· Last season, Maryland averaged 3,781 fans per game and boasted three of the top ten single-game attendance figures in the nation. Excluding football and men's basketball, only three other Division I programs in any sport in the area outdrew the Terps' soccer program on average during the 2010-11 school year.

Head Coach Sasho Cirovski
· The winningest head coach in Maryland men's soccer annals, Sasho Cirovski returns for his 20th season at the helm of the prestigious Terp program.

· National Champions (2005, 2008)
· NSCAA National Coach of the Year (2005)
· ACC Coach of the Year (2003, 2005)
· 17 NCAA postseason appearances
· Four ACC Tournament titles
· Six appearances in the College Cup
· 18 straight winning seasons
· 39 MLS players
· 32 First Team All-ACC picks
· Eight MAC Hermann Trophy finalists

Townsend Drafted Fifth by Chivas USA
· Casey Townsend became the eighth Terrapin to be drafted with a top five pick in the MLS SuperDraft. The senior forward was selected fifth overall by Chivas USA.

· The Traverse City, Mich., product became Maryland's fourth top 10 pick in the draft in the last three seasons, joining Zac MacMath (fifth overall - Philadelphia), Omar Gonzalez (third overall - Los Angeles), and Rodney Wallace (sixth overall - D.C. United).

· Townsend is the eighth top five pick for the Terps all-time, joining Leo Cullen (1998 - first), Taylor Twellman (2002 - second), Jason Garey (2006 - third), Chris Seitz (2007 - fourth), Maurice Edu (2007 - first), Gonzalez (2009 - third), and MacMath (2011 - fifth).

Former Terp Zusi Named MLS All-Star
· Former Maryland standout Graham Zusi was selected as a member of the 2012 Major League Soccer All-Star First XI.

· It is the first career selection for the Sporting Kansas City midfielder. The 2011 MLS Breakout Player of the Year, Zusi is the only player to have appeared in every match for Sporting Kansas City this season.

Fan Friendly Ludwig Field
· The Maryland men's soccer team has increasingly attracted more and more fans to Ludwig Field season after season. Heading into this season, nearly 375,000 fans have filled the stands to take in exciting Terrapin soccer action since the facility opened in 1995.

· The Terps set a Ludwig Field record Oct. 14, 2011 when 7,957 fans watched Maryland defeat Duke on a perfect College Park night set with fireworks. Maryland averaged nearly 4,000 fans per game in 2011.

The Terps When (2012)...

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Media Information
· 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 2012 on your computer with GameTracker. Links for all games that will be available can be found at www.umterps.com.