Sept. 15, 1997

No. 2 Maryland Hosts Mount St. Mary's and N.C. State

SCORELESS!: Maryland and Virginia both went scoreless in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener as the two rivals played to a 0-0 draw in front of a record crowd of 3,723 at Ludwig Field. Both teams recorded 13 shots on goal with junior recording a team-high four.

TERPS HOST THE MOUNT AND N.C. STATE: Maryland returns to action on Wednesday, September 17, hosting Mount St. Mary's at 7 p.m. The Terps resume ACC action on Sunday when they host N.C. State at 2 p.m.

TERPS IN THE POLLS: Soccer News-No. 2; Soccer America-No. 2; NSCAA-No. 2.

BEST START IN A LONG TIME: Maryland's red-hot 4-0-1 start is its best start since 1986 when the Terps ironically went 4-0 before a 1-1 tie versus Loyola.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: Jason Cropley scored the lone goal of the day as the Terps defeated Mount St. Mary's, 1-0, last year. The Terps and the Wolfpack ended their regular-season game with a 1-1 tie last year. The two teams met again at the ACC Tournament where the Terps handed the Pack a 7-0 defeat in the first round.

SCOUTING THE MOUNT: The Mount owns a 4-2 record...defeated the Citadel (3-0), Rider (1-0), St. Peter's (3-1) and Wofford (3-1)...two losses are against Towson (2-1) and South Alabama (2-1)...sophomore midfielder Simon Hodkin leads the Mount attack with four goals and three assists (11 points)...sophomore goalkeeper Bruce Engle has allowed six goals in 495 minutes played (1.09 goals allowed average).

SCOUTING THE WOLFPACK: N.C. State enters Sunday's match with a 4-1 overall record...open ACC action against Maryland on Sunday...has collected wins over Belmont Abbey (1-0), High Point (6-1), Louisville (3-2 OT) and Penn State (3-0)...only loss was to No. 1-ranked Indiana, 5-1, at the Duke Met Life Classic...sophomore forward/midfielder Chris Welling has scored a team-high nine points off of four goals and one assist...freshman goalkeeper Eric Handley has appeared in four games and has a 1.98 GAA.

CIROVSKI AT MARYLAND: Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski owns a 48-32-8 record at the helm of the Terp program. Overall, Cirovski's record is 76-44-14 in seven years of coaching. He will be inducted into his alma mater's (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) Hall of Fame when the Terps travel to Madison, Wis. for an October 3 meeting with the Wisconsin Badgers.

TERP LEADERS:
Goals:      Steve Armas, Judah Cooks........3
Assists:    Randy Merkel....................5
Points:     Judah Cooks.....................9

IN GOAL: Sophomore goalkeeper Andy Kirk, a member of the U.S. U-20 National Team and the World University Games squad, has played in four matches, missing the Adelphi match because of his committment to the World University Games squad. In four games, Kirk has allowed four goals (.923 goals allowed average) and has posted one shutout. He was nominated for ACC Player of the Week after recording three saves in 120 minutes against Virginia last Saturday.

MARYLAND IN THE ACC: Scoring: Judah Cooks tied for 2nd with 9 points; Goals Scored: Armas and Cooks tied for 4th with 3; Assists: Randy Merkel is tied for 1st with 5, Cooks is tied for 3rd with 3; Save Percentage: Andy Kirk is 4th (.764); Goals Allowed Average: Andy Kirk is fourth (.923); Solo Shutouts: Andy Kirk is tied for 3rd (1).

MARYLAND IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC REGION: The Terps are ranked No. 1 in the South Atlantic Region. Judah Cooks is ranked 12th in scoring (9); Randy Merkel tied for third in assists (5); Andy Kirk is ranked 10th in goals allowed average (.923).