Editor

Matt Kassel.

After four days off, Maryland’s men’s soccer team plays their final nonconference road game of the season, travelling to Bethlehem, Pa. to take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.

Lehigh has a good defense, but not much by way of offense. Their leading scorer is junior forward Joe Puleo, who has four goals on the year, but the Mountain Hawks as a whole have only netted nine scores. However, they’ve only let in nine goals as well, leading to their nearly perfectly even 4-4-2 record. Goalie Jonathan Nydell has five shutouts on the season.

The Terps have scored more than three times as many goals as Lehigh this year (28) and has allowed one less (8) on the year. Matt Kassel and Jason Herrick each have five goals for Maryland, while Patrick Mullins and Casey Townsend each have scored four. Zac MacMath has recorded six shots on the year, and has saved 75.8% of shots faced.

Terp Record: 7-2-1 (3-1-1)

Opponent: Lehigh Mountain Hawks (Patriot League) 4-4-2 (1-1-1)

Location: Bethlehem, PA

Time: 7:00 PM ET

Coverage: Lehigh’s version of GameTracker

Prediction: Terps win 4-0. Maryland is on a hot streak right now, and continue it with two goals from Kassel and one each from Townsend and Herrick.

Editor

Casey Townsend. Image from theacc.com.

 

After back-to-back shutouts against top-ten teams Duke and Connecticut, Saturday’s game against a mediocre Virginia Tech squad could have been a trap game for Maryland’s men’s soccer team. The Terrapins put those concerns to bed, however, crushing the Hokies 7-0 in Blacksburg.

The Hokies let one in on an own goal, but the Terps got goals from forwards Casey Townsend, Jason Herrick, and John Stertzer and midfielders Matt Kassel, Paul Torres, and Patrick Mullins. It’s the third straight game with a goal for Mullins, a freshman.

Editor

Alex Lee. Image from gazette.net.

The Maryland Terrapins men’s soccer defeated their second top-ten team in as many games, beating the second ranked Connecticut Huskies, 1-0, in College Park Tuesday night.

Maryland held UConn’s vaunted scoring attack to three shots on goal, as the Huskies were shut out for the first time this season. It was also Connecticut’s first loss of the year. “It wasn’t the prettiest game, but it was a great win.” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “I thought we could have a little more malice in the attack and a little more quality in keeping the ball, but Connecticut is obviously a great team.”

The Terps scored the only goal in 35^th minute of play, when substitute Paul Torres crossed a shot in to the box. The ball richocheted off a Husky defender and found the head of freshman midfielder Patrick Mullins, who sent it in for the score. Mullins, also a substitute, has now scored in each of the past two games. “Paul did a great job keeping it alive sending a cross in,” Mullins said. “The ball was a little scuffled up and it was just in the air and I tacked it and put it in. [Freshman defender] Gordon [Murie] was making fun of me, said it was the softest header he’d ever seen, but it was just in the right spot, so it worked out well.”

In the 53^rd minute, the Huskies nearly were able to tie the game up, as an opportunity arose after a corner kick from sophomore forward Carlos Alvarez. Junior midfielder Tony Cascio, UConn’s leading scorer, got a shot on goal, and the ball went past MacMath and seemed headed toward the back of the net. However, the shot deflected off the hand of Husky senior midfielder Robert Brickley, going out of bounds for a Maryland goal kick.

Maryland forward Casey Townsend was almost able to tie it up in the 87^th minute, as he was able to spring past the Husky defenders and get a shot off, missing wide right. UConn sophomore forward Stephane Diop answered soon after, floating a shot over the outstretched hands of MacMath, but the bail sailed a few inches over the net.

Junior midfielder Tony Cascio, UConn’s leading scorer, had a very good game, showing fancy footwork and getting off four shots. However, the Terps were able to keep him in check, thanks to a great effort by goalie Zac MacMath and the entire Maryland back line, led by center backs Ethan White and Alex Lee. “[Cascio]‘s a great player,” Lee said. “Whenever they got the ball, we didn’t let him turn in. I thought we did a good job closing him down.”

Maryland now faces back-to-back road games, as they travel to Blacksburg, Va. To face the Virginia Tech Hokies on Friday. Four days later, they play at Lehigh.

Player of the Game – Lee. The defender has really come into his own at the center back position, leading the Terps to their second straight shutout over a top ten team. “Every game, I feel our back line is getting more connected,” he said. “And we just continue to get better as a back line every game.”

No. 6 Maryland will be facing No. 2 UConn in what should be a great game. You can listen to it live on Wmucsports.com.

Editor

Freshman midfielder Patrick Mullins.

The Maryland men’s soccer team has faced one of the toughest schedules in the nation this season, and they get another doozy of a matchup tonight when the Connecticut Huskies come to College Park.

Maryland stands at 5-2-1 now, ranked sixth in the country by the latest NSCAA poll. They have been lead on offense by midfielder Matt Kassel (four goals, four assists) and forwards Jason Herrick (three goals, one assist) and Casey Townsend (three goals). The Terps are outscoring opponents 20-8 this year, and have received four shutouts from All-American goalie Zac MacMath. On the back line, Ethan White and Taylor Kemp are stars in the making, and Alex Lee played his best game of the year last Friday against Duke. Maryland also has a great group of freshmen coming off the bench, lead by Sunny Jane, Patrick Mullins, and Helge Leikvang.

Undefeated UConn, ranked No.2 in the country, are outscoring their opponents by an incredible 26-3 margin this year. They have received at least five goals from Tony Cascio, Mamadou Diof (in only five games!), and Stephane Diop. Carlos Alvarez has nine assists on the year. Starting goalie Josh Ford has five shutouts in nine games. These Huskies are really, really good, and it will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski makes for tonight.

Terp Record: 5-2-1 (2-1-1)

Opponent: Connecticut Huskies (Big East) 7-0-2 (1-0-1)

Location: College Park, MD

Time: 7:30 PM ET

Coverage: Ludwig Field, Wmucsports.com

Prediction: 2-1, UConn. The Huskies’ scoring attack is too good, even for Maryland’s defense.

So what do you think? Will Maryland pull out a win against the No.2 team in the nation?

Adrian Moten. Image from WaPo.

Men’s Soccer – Moves up to 6th from 8th in the NSCAA Poll after defeating Duke at home, 2-0.

Women’s Soccer – Falls from 7th to 8th in the NSCAA Poll after their first lost of the year.

Field Hockey – Drops to second in the NFHCA Poll after their first lost of the year.

Women’s Volleyball – Ranked 81st in the NCAA’s RPI Ratings.

Football – Still no votes in the AP Poll or the USA Today Poll.

Freshman midfielder Patrick Mullins put on an offensive display Friday night, leading the eighth ranked Terps to a 2-0 victory over No. 9 Duke in front of a record-breaking crowd of 7,260 at Ludwig Field.

The Terps got on the board first in the 33^rd minute when forward Jason Herrick was taken down by Duke defender Andrew Wenger in the box. Midfielder Matt Kassel drilled the penalty kick in past goalie James Belshaw, and Maryland took a 1-0 lead.

Maryland scored again in the 41^st minute, after a Herrick shot was blocked by Belshaw and deflected back to Mullins, who fired it in to make it 2-0. Mullins impressed throughout the game, showing fancy footwork and collecting beautiful shots. “At first, I wanted to hit the free kick, but [Kassel] overruled me,” Mullins said. “I was just in the right place in the right time. We talk about following shots up, and that’s what happened.” Ives Galarcep, of the great website SoccerbyIves.com, tweeted during the game “Patrick Mullins is a freshman but arguably most impressive player on Terps squad tonight.”

Duke star forward Ryan Finley was able to make opportunities throughout the game, but was unable to capitalize for the Blue Devils. Finley finished with three shots, but none on goal. “I thought we did a great job in the second half [on Finley],” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “First half, I thought we had some good moments but he found some space. At halftime, we really corrected a few things and we did a very good job on him in the second half. I thought today, Alex [Lee] and Ethan [White], that was the best they’ve played together.”

Mullins joined Matt Oduaran and Paul Torres off the bench for Maryland, and all three made Cirovski look very good with his substitution decisions (as usual).

Maryland’s next game comes Tuesday, October 5^th, at home against UConn. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Player of the Game – Patrick Mullins. The freshman was phenomenal in the Terps’ effort, and should challenge for a starting job. Cirovski called him his “super-sub”.

At halftime, it’s 2-0 Terps. The two goals were scored by Matt Kassel (on a penalty kick) and Patrick Mullins (off a rebound from Jason Herrick). Maryland looks good, and are outshooting Duke ten (with 6 on goal) to five (with none on goal). Mullins, Oduaran, and Torres have all had great games off the bench so far.

Men’s Soccer – Dropped from 5th to 8th in the NSCAA poll after a loss at North Carolina.

Women’s Soccer – Moves up from 8th to 5th after drawing at home against Duke.

Field Hockey – Overtakes North Carolina as the #1 school in the country in the NFHCA poll. Interestingly enough, North Carolina has 31 first place votes to Maryland’s 12, but apparently quite a few pollsters had UNC ranked lower than second. The Terps have had one of the toughest schedules in the country, and have played (and beaten) more Top 25 teams than the Tar Heels.

Football – No votes in the AP Poll or the USA Today poll.

Men’s Soccer – Moved up from #7 to #5 in the NSCAA Poll after resounding wins over Loyola and NC State.

Women’s Soccer – Stayed at #8 for the third week in a row in the NSCAA Poll after beating George Mason.

Field Hockey - Still at #2 in the NFHCA poll, but they are now up to 11 first place votes.

Football – Lost all 13 combined votes from the AP and USA Today polls after losing to West Virginia.