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No. 7 Seeded Terps Host Denver In Opening Game Of NCAA Tournament Saturday
May 8, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 7 seeded Maryland men's lacrosse team hosts unseeded Denver in the opening game of the 2008 NCAA Tournament at Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium. Face-off is set for 12 noon, as the Terps (9-5 overall) battle the Pioneers (10-6) for the second time in post-season play. The game will be televised live on ESPNU. Dave Cohen will provide the play-by-play, while the analysis will come from Mark Dixon. • The Terps are making their 31st NCAA Tournament appearance, the second most of any school in NCAA history. Denver is making just its second appearance in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament after earning an at-large bid out of the Great Western Lacrosse League. • The winner of the Maryland/Denver game will take on the winner of the No. 2 seed Virginia (12-3)/UMBC (12-3) game on Saturday, May 17 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.. The Cavaliers and Retrievers play in Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday, May 11 at 5 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. • The game between the Terps and the Pioneers can also be heard on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network's flagship station, ESPN Radio 1300 AM (WJFK) in Baltimore and surrounding areas.
Ticket Information Gameday Fan Guide - Essential Information For Fans Attending Games At Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium Due to ongoing construction of The Suites at Byrd Stadium, fans will find significant differences when attending games at Chevy Chase Bank Field this season. Fans are encouraged to check umterps.com for the most current information before heading to the stadium on game days. STADIUM ENTRY • Gates will open one hour prior to the start of games. FAN SEATING • All seating is general admission in Sections 2 through 12 in the Lower Bowl, approximately 15,000 seats. Please note that all seats in the West end zone and the South (Tyser Tower) side of the stadium will be closed due to the construction. TICKETS • Ticket Booths will open one hour prior to the start of games for sales and will call. PARKING Fans have parking options similar to past seasons, including: • Lot 1 and Lot Z: Permit Parking only weekdays between 7am and 4pm. Open to all vehicles, no permit required at all other times. Tailgating is permitted in campus surface parking lots, therefore fans who wish to tailgate should park in Lot 1 and Lot Z.
Maryland's 31st Time At NCAA's • In the first round of the tournament, the Terrapins have a 9-3 (.750) record overall. Maryland has also received six byes into the second round. • The Terps have captured two NCAA championships, 1973 and 1975, and have now reached the NCAA Semifinals 19 times, including three of the last four years.
Maryland's Record In The NCAA Tournament • Maryland is fifth by percentage (.582) among all teams ever to play in the tournament. Only Syracuse (50-18, .735), Princeton (29-11, .725), Johns Hopkins (61-27, .693) and Virginia (37-26, .587) are ahead of the Terps. • The Terps have captured two titles. Only six other schools have ever won the NCAA Championship: Johns Hopkins (9), Syracuse (8), Princeton (6), North Carolina (4), Virginia (4) and Cornell (3).
Maryland As The No. 7 Seed • The Terps were previously a No. 7 seed in 1982, 1991 and last season. In 1982, Maryland lost a first round game to Johns Hopkins by a 14-9 margin. In 1991, Maryland advanced to the Final Four, but lost to Towson, 15-11, in the semifinals. Last year, the Terps were upset in the first round by UMBC, 13-9.
Cottle In The NCAA Tournament • Overall, Cottle is 15-19 in NCAA Tournament games, which ranks him fifth among all coaches in the 2008 tournament in wins. Only Princeton's Bill Tierney (29-11), Virginia's Dom Starsia (25-16), Syracuse's John Desko (22-5) and Hopkins' Dave Pietramala (17-6) have more tournament wins to their credit among this year's crop. • With his 20th tournament appearance, Cottle is tied for first place on the all-time list for most NCAA Tournament Division I appearances as a head coach with Virginia's Dom Starsia. Syracuse's Roy Simmons Jr. and Towson's Tony Seaman are second with 19. With his streak of 14-consecutive tournaments while at Loyola, Cottle is behind only to Simmons Jr. (19) and Bill Tierney (15), for the longest-consecutive steak. • Cottle has led his teams to the NCAA Quarterfinals on 16 occasions and to the NCAA semifinals five times, making an appearance in the 1990 championship game where Loyola fell to Syracuse, 21-9. He also reached the NCAA semifinals as the No. 1 seed with Loyola, but lost to Maryland, 19-8, at Byrd Stadium on May 23, 1998. At Maryland he has now lead the Terps to three semifinal berths, falling to eventual champion Virginia, 14-4, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on May 24, 2003, a 18-9 loss to No. 2 seed Duke, 18-9, on May 28, 2005, and an 8-5 loss to UMass in 2006.
Coaching Match-Up • Denver's Jamie Munroe is 83-61 (57.6) in his 10th college head coaching season, all of which have been at the head of the Pioneers' program. • Cottle has only faced Denver once in his 26 years as a head coach and that was two years ago in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Cottle's Terps defeated the Pioneers 16-8 in College Park. Munroe is 0-3 all-time vs. Maryland.
Series History vs. Denver • Two years ago the Terps and the Pioneers hooked-up in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and Maryland came away with a 16-8 victory. Highlighting that contest was a six-point effort from All-American Joe Walters, including the point that made him the school's all-time leading scorer. Max Ritz also had six points against Denver on a career-best five goals and one assist. Will Dalton gave the Terps a boost at the face-off X, winning 12-of-23 against Geoff Snider, widely considered to be the best face-off man in the nation in 2006. • The first time the two programs faced each other was in the 1999 season opener in College Park. The Pioneers took a 2-1 lead early in the second quarter, but the Terps ran off seven consecutive scores to build an 8-2 lead and put the game out of reach. Five Terrapin players scored two goals each in the 13-5 victory. • The rematch came two years later when Maryland traveled West to play in the Pioneer Face-Off Classic. The brother duo of Mike and Dan LaMonica combined to score five goals and add three assists in the 10-7 Terrapin win. Andrew Combs scored a hat trick in the victory for the Terps.
Shooting Tells The Story
Home vs. Away • Maryland is averaging 11.9 goals per game in its home games, which is better than two goals more than the 9.4 goals the Terps average on the road. • The Maryland defense has been good whether it is playing at home or on the road, but the numbers favor the Terps when they are at home so far in 2008. Maryland is allowing opponents just 6.0 goals per game at home, but that inflates by to 9.2 gpg on the road. • A Freshman leads the Terps in overall scoring and is tops in both at home and on road scoring as well. Grant Catalino is the team's leading scorer overall with 36 points. He is also the Terps' leading scorer at home with 19 points on 13 goals and six assist. Catalino also leads the squad in scoring on the road with 12 goals and five assists for 17 points.
Home Cooking • This season the Terps are 6-2 at home overall and 2-1 at Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium. Maryland's first round opponent, Denver, is 7-1 at home this year, but are just 3-5 on the road (including neutral site games). Of those eight road games the Pioneers have travelled to the Eastern time zone four times and are 1-3 in those games.
Defense Ready To Meet Expectations • During the last four seasons, Maryland held its' opponents scoreless for long stretches of game time. The 2004 Terps kept opponents scoreless for stretches of 20 or more minutes eight times. In 2005 Maryland did it on seven occasions, and was just seconds away from keeping the high-powered Duke (1st meeting) and Navy offenses off the board for more than 20 minutes. The 2006 season saw the Terrapin defense do it 10 times in 17 games. In 2007 Terp "D" had 11 20+ minute scoring droughts to its credit in 16 contests. So far in 2008, Maryland has held opponents scoreless for more than 20 minutes four times. • The emphasis on team defense was evident in the Terps' 2008 opener at No. 4 Georgetown. Maryland held the lauded Hoya offense to just six goals and two of those came when Georgetown converted on man-up opportunities. The Terrapin defense held Georgetown's starting attack and first midfield, which combined for 95 goals (6.3 per game) in 2007, to just three scores. • The defense was solid in allowing just seven goals at Mount St. Mary's on a rainy, foggy afternoon. The fog was the most difficult on the defense as it made the ball very hard for the goalies to see shots clearly. Even so, the Terrapins came up with a good defensive effort, holding the Mount to just one goal over a 22-minute span covering parts of the first, second and third quarters. Junior Mike Griswold led the Terps with three caused turnovers on the afternoon. Overall, 12 Terps combined to force 19 of the Mount's 25 turnovers. • The defense turned in its first shutout quarter of the season in the 13-5 win over Providence. The Terps held the Friars scoreless in the first quarter, allowing the offense to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Overall, Providence was held off the board for the first 23:30 of the game. Maryland forced 20 of the Friars' 21 turnovers. Leading the way was sophomore long pole Brian Farrell who had three caused turnovers to go along with four groundballs. • In the Terps' 12-7 win over No. 18 Towson, Maryland's "D" proved to be a physically dominant unit. The Terrapins forced 16 of the Tigers' 23 turnovers. Even more impressive was Maryland's plus-22 advantage in groundballs (53-31). Senior defender Ryne Adolph had a career-best six pick-ups off the turf and led a contingent of nine Terps who had at least four groundballs apiece. In addition to playing great on its side of the field, the defense also contributed on the offensive side of things vs. Towson as Brian Farrell scored two of Maryland's 12 goals. • The Maryland defense had its finest showing of the season to date against Air Force, holding the Falcons to just four goals. After surrendering three scores in the first quarter, the Terrapin defense tightened down and did not allow another goal for 44:03; the longest scoreless stretch for the season by the Terp "D". Maryland's defenders also got into the scoring act against Air Force. Five Terrapin defenders combined for a pair of goals and three assists. • At fifth-ranked North Carolina, the Terps bottled up the Tar Heels offense, holding them to just eight goals. Senior All-America candidate Joe Cinosky continued his dominant play with four groundballs and a pair of caused turnovers. In total, the Maryland defense held Carolina's starting attack to two goals and one assist. The "D" held the Tar Heels without a goal for 20:13, spanning the third and fourth quarters. That allowed the Maryland offense to go on a 5-0 scoring run and put the game out of reach. • A masterful performance by the Terrapin defense helped the Terps knock off then-No. 1 Virginia, 13-7. The Cavaliers were held to their lowest scoring output of the season and were held to just three goals in the first half. Virginia had entered the game averaging more than eight goals per game in the first half alone. Redshirt junior goalie Jason Carter was brilliant in the cage, stopping a career-best 15 saves in the victory. • The Terps held Navy to just five goals - more than four lower than its season average - and shutout the Midshipmen for the final 30:44 of the game. Joe Cinosky tied his career-high with five groundballs and also caused three of Navy's 24 turnovers. The Mids turned the ball over on 14 of their 16 second-half possessions against a tenacious Maryland defense. • Goalie Brian Phipps set career-highs with 17 saves and six groundballs in Maryland 9-4 win over Penn. The sophomore from Annapolis, Md., allowed only one goal and helped hold the Quakers scoreless for a stretch of 51:12. Joe Cinosky also had a career-best six groundballs, while defensive midfielders Chris Rhine (goal) and Bryn Holmes (assist) added to the offensive effort. • The defense was solid if not spectacular in the 16-10 win over Yale on May 3, but the "D" contributed to the offensive effort vs. the Elis with two goals and two assists coming from defensive players. Bryn Holmes scored both goals for the Maryland defense, while long pole Brian Farrell and short-stick Dan Burns picked up the assists.
Offensive Defenders • Sophomore long pole Brian Farrell leads the defense with six goals and two assists and is actually 10th on the squad in points and goals. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Baltimore native, had scored at least one point in six of the Terps' last 10 games. • Sophomore short-stick Bryn Holmes is next up for the defenders with five points on three goals and two assists, including a career-best two goals in the 16-10 win over Yale on May 3. • Junior Chris Rhine, who has played both long- and short-stick this season, has two goals and an assist for three points. In the Yale win, Rhine's perfect career shooting percentage (4-of-4 heading into the game vs. the Bulldogs) dropped to .800 when his second-quarter shot sailed over the Yale goal. • Three other short-sticks have contributed to the offensive production this season. Dan Burns has three assists, Spencer McAllister has two goals, while Dean Hart has two assists. • Sophomore long pole Dan Halayko has one goal, while senior All-America candidate Joe Cinosky has one assist.
Where's The Beef? Check The "D" Brian Farrell: 6-5, 240 Freshmen Leading The Way • The season is in the home stretch and the top three scorers for the Terps are still freshmen. This is rare air for the Maryland program. • Going back to 1962 only two Terrapins (Mike Mollot, who was a redshirt freshman, in 2000 and Joe Walters in 2003) led the team in points as a rookie. Only four (Walters, Matt Hahn in 1995, Rob Wurzburger in 1988 and Pete Worstell in 1977) led the team in goals and another four (Dan LaMonica in 2001, Mollot, Rob Chomo in 1991 and Tim Cox in 1989) led the squad in assists. • Travis Reed, Ryan Young and Grant Catalino are already approaching some freshmen milestones and are poised to climb the freshman class records in several categories. Catalino cracked the top 10 in points with his seven-point performance against Yale and is in the 10th spot with 36 points. Reed is in 13th with 31, while Young is in 15th spot, two points back of Jim Wilkerson, who had 27 points in 1980. Catalino is now tied for the sixth spot on the goals list with Dan LaMonica, who had 25 goals in 2001. Reed is ninth with 20 goals. Young's 17 assists has him in eighth place on the freshman assist chart and needs just three more to tie Andrew Whipple (1995) and Frank Urso (1973) for sixth. Catalino and Reed have 11 assists and are one shy of Jack Lamon, who sits at No. 12 with 12 in 1976.
Freshmen Starters 2002: None
Memorable Debut • For his performance against the Hoyas, Catalino was named both the ACC Player of the Week (along with UNC goalie Grant Zimmerman) and the University of Maryland's male athlete of the week.
Trio Of Terps Earn ACC Honors • The All-ACC teams were also announced at the annual awards banquet with senior defender Joe Cinosky and redshirt junior midfielder Jeff Reynolds earning spots on the squad for the Terrapins. • Maryland is the only team in the conference to have won at least one of the three individual awards in each of the past three seasons. (Joe Walters - 2006 Player of the Year, Brian Phipps - 2007 Freshman of the Year, Dave Cottle - 2008 Coach of the Year). 2008 All-ACC Team Coach of the Year: Dave Cottle, Maryland
A Family Affair Harry & Thomas Alford: 2004-05-06-07 Fathers and Sons • Maryland's family tradition doesn't end with brothers. Fathers and sons are also part of the Terps' tradition and that's never been more evident than this season. This year's Maryland men's lacrosse roster features three players whose father's not only played at Maryland, but won a nation title together. Mike Farrell, father of Brian, Wilson Phipps, father of Brian, and Jake Reed, father of Travis, were all members of the Terps' 1975 NCAA championship squad. Terps' 83rd Season of Lacrosse • The Terps boast an all-time record of 692-230-4 (.749), dating back to the first varsity team in 1924 (a team was not fielded in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II). Maryland has finished every one of its previous 82 seasons with a .500 or better record, including last season when the Terps went 10-6. The program reached the 650-win milestone with a 16-12 win over Army in the first round of the 2004 NCAA tournament at Byrd Stadium. • Since 2000, Maryland is 100-41 for a .709 win percentage. In the decade of the 1990s, Maryland recorded its most wins in any decade with a 95-47 record. The .669 winning percentage matched Maryland's win percentage of the 1980s when the Terps went 83-41 and also compiled a .669 win percentage.
Road Work • For just the second time in program history, the Terps opened the season with three-straight games away from College Park. In 1978 Maryland opened with a pair of games in North Carolina - a 25-11 win at NC State and a 14-7 win at Duke - before beating Dartmouth, 16-3, in a neutral site game at Garden City, Long Island. • 2008 marks the 12th time in the 83 years of Maryland lacrosse that the Terps will open a season with at least two road games. In the previous 11 seasons (1952, 1954, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 2001, 2004 and 2006) Maryland has a combined record of 23-0 in those road games. This season the Terps were 2-1 in its three-game road trip to open the season, bringing its record to 25-1 (.962).
Maryland In Season Openers • Maryland has a 79-3-1 (.958) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1924 season. The Terps have won their last 15 openers and 23 of the last 24, with the only loss coming to Duke in 1993, when they fell to Duke 9-5 on March 6. • After losing their 1925 opener to Yale, 5-3, the Terps went on to win 40 consecutive season openers from 1926 through 1967. The streak was broken when Maryland tied Princeton, 6-6, in the 1968 opener. Following the deadlock, Maryland went on to win its next 14 openers, giving the Terps a 54-0-1 record over a 57-year span (Maryland did not field a team in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II.)
15 Straight In Season Openers • After beating No. 4 Georgetown to open the 2008 season the Terps now have a 15-game winning streak in season openers. Five of those wins came against Villanova (1994-98) and the last nine over Denver, Mount St. Mary's, Air Force, Hobart, Duke, Georgetown (four times) and Bellarmine. Over the 15-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 204-78 (an average score of 13.6-5.2) in those games. • The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 15 years. Maryland has not allowed an opponent to score 10 or more goals in a season opener since Syracuse beat the Terps, 16-13 on March 9, 1983.
2008 Captains: Adolph, Cinosky, Dalton, Evans & Ritz • Five players have been named team captains for the 2008 season. The quintet, which was voted on by the team during the preseason, consists of seniors Ryne Adolph, Joe Cinosky, Will Dalton, Drew Evans and Max Ritz. Media Information • Email Straight To You: If you would like the latest Maryland men's lacrosse news emailed directly to you as soon as it breaks, email men's lacrosse contact Patrick Fischer with "Men's Lacrosse E-Mail" as the subject and you will receive every update. • 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 2008 on your computer with GameTracker. Links for all games that will be available can be found at www.umterps.com. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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