COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 4 Maryland men's soccer team faces No. 16 UCLA at the StubHub Center Friday night at 10 p.m.
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storylines
• After defeating top-seed and host Ohio State last season in Columbus to capture their fourth straight league tournament championship, the Terps will look to make it five in a row in 2016. Maryland has won the Big Ten Tournament title in each of its first two seasons in the conference.
• In both of Maryland's national championship seasons (2005 and 2008) under head coach Sasho Cirovski, the Terps started the season by playing UCLA on the West Coast.
• Former Terp AJ Delagarza visited the Terps training session Thursday afternoon at the StubHub Center. Both Delagarza and Robbie Rogers are members of the LA Galaxy.
• Cody Niedermeier, Cody Albrecht and Alex Crognale will have the honor of repping the captain band this season for the Terps.
• Sebastian Elney was named a second team All-Big Ten selection last season and both he and Eryk Williamson garnered all-freshman honors. Classmates Amar Sejdic, Diego Silva and Andrew Samuels all spent time in the starting lineup a year ago while DJ Reeves, Connor Smith and Jorge Calix also saw significant action.
• Maryland was picked to win the Big Ten this season, per a poll by the league's coaches released earlier in August. Alex Crognale, Chris Odoi-Atsem and Eryk Williamson were tabbed Players to Watch by the conference.
• Maryland will be challenged immediately as it battles nationally-ranked UCLA and Georgetown the first two weekends of the season in addition to playing five consecutive league matches in the month of September.
• Of the 38 goals scored a year ago, 26 were by players returning this season, including a combined 13 from sophomores Eryk Williamson and Sebastian Elney.
