Oct. 19, 2012

Hi Terp Nation:

Nice to catch up with you again. It has been a fun and exciting couple of weeks.

We have a number of outstanding athletic events on campus this weekend to celebrate Homecoming Weekend!

Earlier this week, the Maryland department of athletics proudly announced our plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Darryl Hill becoming the first African-American football player to play at the University of Maryland and in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Coach Edsall and I joined Darryl at a press conference at Gossett Team House last Tuesday to share in Darryl's remarkable achievements.

Darryl, who transferred to Maryland in 1962, sat one year and broke the color barrier in 1963. His first home game was against NC State in College Park. He was also the first African-American to play at Gonzaga High School and the Naval Academy.

This is a very special time for me because if it wasn't for pioneers like Darryl, I wouldn't have the opportunities presented to me today. There are many people on this campus, in the ACC and across the country that have deep appreciation for Darryl in terms of what he did during very difficult times. Not too many people live a lifetime and display the kind of courage Darryl has demonstrated.

We encourage all of Terp Nation to join us in this celebration on Saturday as we honor Darryl on the field after the first quarter of our game against NC State.

The Terps have started off the ACC campaign 2-0 for the first time since 2001. At 4-2, we continue to make strides as a program. Coach Edsall and his staff continue to lead our program with a wonderful group of student-athletes. We have 14 freshmen in the two-deep depth chart, including freshman starters at quarterback, left tackle, center, right guard, running back and wide receiver. Both the present and future look very bright for our Terps' football team.

Let's take a look at what else is going on around campus this weekend:

#1 Men's Soccer Hosts # 2 North Carolina
·     The Maryland men's soccer team hosts North Carolina for a No.1 vs. No. 2 matchup on Friday at 6 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN U. Come early for this anticipated sellout. The Terps (12-0-1, 5-0 ACC) remained unbeaten with impressive wins at Duke and against Colgate last week. We are also anticipating more than 50 former alumni from the soccer program to be in attendance.

#6 Field Hockey Welcomes #2 North Carolina
·     Coming off three consecutive impressive wins over the last seven days (at No. 8 Old Dominion, 5-2 and against UC Davis, 7-0 and Towson, 9-0), the No. 6 Terps meet No. 2 North Carolina on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. The Terrapins and the Tar Heels have captured the last seven national championships, with Maryland winning the last two. The two teams have also met in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 NCAA Championship games.

#5 Women's Soccer Team Hosts #1 Florida State on Senior Day
·     Sunday marks Senior Day for the women's soccer program, when the No. 5 Terps (11-4-2 overall and 6-2-1 in the ACC) conclude the 2012 regular season when they host No. 1 Florida State (14-1 overall and 7-1 ACC) at Ludwig Field. In addition, the Terps will honor their six seniors - Bailey Bodell, Domenica Hodak, Danielle Hubka, Becky Kaplan, Olivia Wagner and Shannon Zickler.

Cross Country's Yep Wins
·     Junior Becky Yep won the Blue & Gold Invitational at the Lums Pond State Park in Newark, Del., last Saturday to lead the Maryland women's cross country to a second-place finish in a competitive field. Yep improved her personal-best for a 6k course to 21:32.63. Senior Anna Roth continued her solid season and was the second scorer for the Terps with a personal-best time of 22:08.97.

Terp of the Week
Congratulations to our last two Solomon Eye Associates Terp of the Week winners: Women's golf Juliet Vongphoumy and men's soccer midfielder John Stertzer.

Juliet, shooting a 4-under 68, placed first in the Lady Pirate Invitational golf tournament that took place on Oct. 8 in Greenville, N.C. It is the first tournament that Juliet has won individually in her collegiate golf career.

John posted two assists in a win against Rutgers before scoring Maryland's first goal in a 2-1 victory at Duke. The senior MAC Hermann Trophy candidate has five goals for the Terps this season.

Men's Basketball Open Scrimmage
Thank you for your support and enthusiasm during our Maryland Madness tip off for our men's and women's basketball team last week. Our student-athletes really fed off of our fans' energy. There were also some outstanding dance performances by both the men's and women's team.

We will hold a scrimmage, which is open to the public, on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The scrimmage will last approximately 30 minutes. Preceding the football team's game against NC State at 3:30, men's basketball players will be at Terp Town at 2:45 p.m. to sign autographs. Come meet our basketball team and welcome our new exciting freshman class.

More Honors
Congratulations are in order to four outstanding members of our lacrosse family.

Four former Terrapins - Jen Adams, Brian Dougherty, and Kelly Amonte Hiller as well as eight-time national champion coach Cindy Timchal - will be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame on Saturday at The Grand Lodge in Hunt Valley, Md.

Good luck Away from College Park
Good luck to the women's volleyball team as they travel to face ACC rivals North Carolina on Friday and NC State on Saturday.

Best of luck to the men's golf team who is competing in the Wolfpack Intercollegiate on Friday and Saturday.

The Maryland Way
As an athletics department, we continue to strive to be the very best. We are here to educate and develop our student-athletes. They are "WHY" we are passionate about what we do and your continued support and encouragement play an integral role in our success both on and off the athletic field.

Look forward to seeing and visiting with you on campus.

Go Terps!

Kevin