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Top-Four Showdown At Byrd: No. 1 Terps Vs. No. 4 Navy This Saturday
April 8, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
#4 NAVY (7-1) at #1 MARYLAND (8-0)
Top-Four Showdown At Byrd: No. 1 Terps Vs. No. 4 Navy * The Terps (8-0) come into the game after pounding defending national champion Virginia, 11-2, last Saturday at Byrd Stadium. The Terps' defense anchored by goalie Tim McGinnis (Ellicott City, Md.) along with close defensemen Chris Passavia (Stony Brook, N.Y.), Dave Wagner (Severna Park, Md.) and Lee Zink (Rowayton, Conn.) limited the Cavaliers to their fewest goals in a game since 1984 and the fewest against the Terps since 1955. Maryland kept Virginia's top seven scorers pointless including All-Americans John Christmas, Matt Ward and Joe Yevoli. With the stellar defense, the Terps now have the nation's top goals against average, allowing just 6.13 goals per game. The Terps also come into the game -- tied with Navy -- for the second-highest scoring offense in the nation at 12.75. ACC leading scorer Joe Walters (Rochester, N.Y.) leads the team in points with 34 on 22 goals and 12 assists after a four-point game vs. Virginia. Fellow sophomore attacker Xander Ritz (Wayne, Pa.) had three goals and three assists vs. Virginia and is second on the team in scoring with 24 points, leading in assists with 14. * The win over Virginia gave Maryland its first outright ACC regular-season championship since 1998, also the last time the Terps went 3-0 in the league. The Terps will be the No. 1 seed in the 2004 ACC Tournament held in Chapel Hill, N.C., on the weekend of April 23-25. Maryland last won the ACC Tournament title also in 1998. The 8-0 start overall is also the best since 1998. The last time the Terps started 9-0 was 1987, when they started the year 12-0. * Navy comes into the game on Saturday in the midst of its best season in more than a decade with a 7-1 record, riding a six-game winning streak. The Mids have reeled off consecutive victories over North Carolina (9-8 in OT), Bucknell (11-5), Hobart (13-8), Colgate (21-6), Army (18-10) and Georgetown (7-5). The most recent win over the Hoyas came last Saturday and marked the first time since 1992 that the Mids beat Georgetown. Navy is led by sophomore Ian Dingman, who is tied with the Terps' Joe Walters for fifth in the nation in points per game (4.25). Dingman tops the Mids' scoring charts with 21 goals and 13 assists for 34 points. Joe Bossi is second in points (23) and goals (19). The Mids' offense is averaging 12.75 goals per game, tied with the Terps for second in the nation. In goal, freshman Matt Russell has emerged as the starter and has a 6.70 goals against average -- sixth in the country. The Midshipmen are allowing just 6.85 goals per game -- sixth in the nation. Their total scoring margin of 5.88 is only second to Maryland at 6.63 for the best in the country.
Terps At Top of ACC, NCAA Stat Lists * On defense, Maryland has the best goals against average in the country at 6.13 per game, that mark also tops the ACC. * The Terps are tied with Navy for second in the nation in total goals with 102 and goals per game (12.75). * The Terps are also first in the country in goal-scoring margin at +6.63 per game. * Individually, Joe Walters leads the ACC in scoring with 34 as well as in points per game at 4.25. His total points ranks him tied for third in the nation while the points per game is tied for fifth overall. * Walters is also seventh in the nation in total goals with 22. * In goal, Tim McGinnis is first in the nation in goals against average with a 5.70 GAA. He is also third in country in save percentage at 68.0, which is also the best in the ACC. * Checking other ACC stat charts, Joe Walters leads in game-winning goals with three. Xander Ritz ranks second in the league in assists (14) and assists per game (1.75), also good for 15th nationally. * Paul Gillette is tied for second in the ACC in groundballs per game at 4.25 while teammate Lee Zink is fourth at 3.71.
Series History With Navy * Maryland has won the last 11 meetings in the series including last year's 9-7 win in Annapolis. That win was preceded by four straight 6-5 decisions: at Maryland on April 8, 2000 and April 5, 2002, and at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis on April 10, 1999 and again on April 7, 2001. * Navy's last win in the series came in 1992, as the Mids upset Maryland, 11-3 in College Park. * Last's year's game broke the uncanny streak of 6-5 games as the Terps beat Navy, 9-7, at Rip Miller Field on April 5, 2003. Joe Walters had four goals in the victory while Dan LaMonica had six assists for the Terps. Paul Gillette and Justin Smith (University Park, Md.) also scored for the Terps. * In the last game at Byrd Stadium, Mike Morsell scored three goals for the Terps as Maryland held off a furious rally by Navy as they scored the game's final two goals to make it 6-5. Maryland's Chris Passavia forced Navy's Ben Bailey to turn over the ball in the waning seconds to preserve the win. Bailey scored three times for the Midshipmen. * During the 1990s, Maryland won nine of the 10 meetings. * The last meeting between the teams when both were ranked in the top four came in 1986, when the No. 2 Terps downed the No. 4 Midshipmen, 11-8, at Byrd Stadium. * Maryland has also won all four meetings in the NCAA Tournament. The Terps captured their last national championship in 1975 with a 20-13 win over Navy. Maryland also defeated Navy in NCAA semifinal games in 1971, 1976 and 1979.
Coaching Match-Up * Head coach Dave Cottle has a 3-0 lifetime record against Navy. In addition his two wins over Navy while at Maryland, Cottle led Loyola to a 19-8 victory over Navy in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 1993. The 2002 game was the first between Cottle and Navy's Richie Meade as head coaches.
Playing With the Lead * In five of eight games, the Terps have never trailed, leading wire-to-wire, scoring first and never falling behind. They took the lead within the first minute against Towson and Bucknell. * They have led for more than 94 percent of a game on four occasions.
Terps' High-scoring Offense * The Terps have looked to underclassmen for much of their offense as 59 of the 102 goals (58 percent) have come from sophomores with a quartet of second-year players topping the team in points: Joe Walters, Xander Ritz, Bill McGlone and Brendan Healy. Overall, sophomores have been involved in 78 of the Terps' 102 goals this season with either the goal or assist (76 percent). * Attacker Joe Walters continues to lead the way, as he has 22 goals -- scoring three or more in six of eight games this season. He netted a career-high tying four goals at Duke and was named ACC Player of the Week on March 8. He has tallied at least three goals in four of the last five games. He posted a career-high seven points vs. Bucknell. He has at least one goal in 22 of his 24 career games at Maryland. Overall, he has 80 career points (3.33 ppg). Walters also has three of the team's eight game-winning goals in 2004 -- also most in the ACC. Walters netted his 50th career goal in his 22nd career game vs. Butler. He now has 55 career goals. * Attacker Xander Ritz has been an infusion of talent on attack after transferring from Delaware. He is currently second on the team in points with 24 on 10 goals and a team-high 14 assists, which ranks second in the ACC. He had his career game in the season opener at Georgetown on Feb. 28 -- his Terrapin debut -- as he had three goals and four assists for seven points. He was named Inside Lacrosse's National Player of the Week as well as ACC Co-Player of the Week. He had a goal and two assists in the win over Towson on March 13 and added a goal vs. Bucknell. He had two assists at UMBC as well as a goal and assist vs. Butler. He assisted two goals at North Carolina. Ritz posted a six-point game with a three-goal, three-assist performance vs. Virginia last weekend. He has at least one point in each game this season. Overall, dating to last season at Delaware, he has a 11-game point streak. * Midfielder Bill McGlone is second in goals with 14 and third in points with 17. He had his biggest game as a Terp at Duke on March 6, as he tallied his first career hat trick and added two assists for a five-point day. McGlone surpassed last season's totals of four goals and five points, in just two games -- as he is running with the first midfield. He had one goal in each game over a three game stretch before busting out for a career-high four goals vs. Butler. He is the only Terp besides Walters to have scored a goal in every game this season. * Sophomore midfielder Brendan Healy (Great Falls, Va.) is fourth in scoring with 14 points on eight goals and six assists. Against Towson, as he scored two goals and added an assist for a career-best three points. Towson was also his first multi-goal game as a Terp. He notched his first-career hat trick vs. Bucknell and added a goal and assist at UMBC. He posted a goal and two assists vs. Butler for his third three-point game this season. * Senior midfielder Justin Smith has been the steady upperclassman on the first line, as he has nine goals in 2004. He had his first-career hat trick as a Terp vs. Towson and scored two more vs. Bucknell. Smith was held pointless for the first time this season at UMBC. He got back on track with a goal vs. Butler. Overall, he has 38 goals in his last 31 games. * Senior attacker J.R. Bordley (Vienna, Va.) also had his most productive day as a Terp at Duke, as he scored back-to-back goals in a 4-0 run in the second quarter and added an assist for a career-high three points. He returned to action at UMBC, and scored in the first quarter. He opened the scoring against Virginia with his fifth goal of the season. He has five goals and three assists in seven starts this year. * Freshman attacker Mike Brown (West Hartford, Conn.) has been a key player of late, scoring two goals in each of the last four games at UMBC, vs. Butler, at UNC and Virginia. Overall, he is the top freshman goal scorer with nine markers and 11 points. Brown netted the game-tying goal and the eventual game-winner at UNC. He has been a clutch player, scoring six of his nine goals in the fourth quarter. He scored back-to-back goals in a 38-second span vs. Virginia. Classmate Michael Phipps (Severna Park, Md.) has nine points (five goals, four assists). He scored back-to-back goals in 59 seconds at UNC. He netted the second goal of the Virginia game giving him goals in two straight games and in all three ACC games this season.
More On The Super "O" * The second quarter has been the knockout quarter for the Terps as they have outscored their opponents, 32-8, in the second period. Against Georgetown, they built a 2-1 first-quarter lead to a 9-1 halftime lead with a 7-0 second quarter. Against Duke, it was more of the same, as the Terps outscored the Blue Devils, 6-1, in the second period to break a 4-4 tie and lead 8-4 at half. The Terps outscored Towson and UMBC, 3-1 in the second period. In the Butler win, UM scored four goals in the second to build a 10-0 halftime lead. The Terps jumped out on Virginia, building a 6-1 halftime lead on the way to the 11-2 win at Byrd Stadium. * In eight games, the Terps have had 20 different goal scorers. On three occasions, nine or more players have scored goals in a game, showing the Terps are certainly spreading the wealth. In the win at Duke, 11 players scored goals including five players who tallied their first career goals: freshman Mike Brown, junior Peter Ellis (Ross, Calif.), sophomore Ryan Lang (Northport, N.Y.), junior Dave Matz (Woodstock, Vt.) and freshman Michael Phipps. * Nine Terps scored vs. Bucknell including Phipps and Matz with their second goals of the year. Sophomore Bret Caretsky (Northport, N.Y.) tallied his first career goal in the win. * Against Butler, a season-high 12 players scored goals and 17 had points. Four players tallied their first career goals in the win: redshirt freshmen Brent Hargest (Cockeysville, Md.) and Patrick Howell (Arlington, Va.), freshman Thomas Alford (Washington, D.C.), who had two goals and junior college transfer Terence Dorsey (Baltimore, Md.). * Maryland's extra-man unit is 7-for-20 this season (35.0 percent) through eight games -- tied for 15th nationally. They were a perfect 4-for-4 in the win at Georgetown, scoring once in each quarter. Joe Walters, Bill McGlone, Justin Smith and Ian Healy tallied the goals. The last time Maryland netted four extra-man goals was in the 2003 opener against Duke, as they went 4-for-6. The perfect day was especially sweet as the Terps worked hard on improving the EMO. Last season, they scored just four goals on their final 41 man-up chances spanning the final 10 games. Smith had his second EMO goal vs. Towson.
The Terps' Stifling Defense * Similar to last season, Maryland has held opponents scoreless for long stretches of game time. In 16 games last season, the Terps kept opponents scoreless for stretches of 20 or more minutes on 10 occasions. They have done it six times already this season in eight games -- with two streak coming against Virginia. * Against Georgetown, the Hoyas were held off the board for 23:22 spanning the first quarter to the early third quarter. The Hoyas trailed 9-1 at halftime, scoring just once in the game's first 34:05. Georgetown turned the ball over 25 times, with 14 of them being forced by a Terp. Senior captain and All-American Lee Zink led the way with four caused turnovers. * Maryland pitched a shutout for the first 29:10 of the Towson game, before allowing a goal with 50 seconds left in the first half. Maryland then shutout the Tigers for the entire third quarter -- limiting them to one goal over the game's first 49:37. * Against Bucknell, the Terps held the Bison scoreless until 11:54 left in the first half, marking the second game in a row they have blanked an opponent in the first quarter. Bucknell was also held to just one goal until 12 seconds were left in the first half -- a stretch of 29:48, allowing just one goal. * At UMBC, it was more of the same, as the stifling defense kept the Retrievers off the board for 29:12 bridging the second through fourth quarters. After scoring early in the fourth quarter, Maryland locked them down for the next 10:40 -- allowing just one goal in 39:52. Tim McGinnis made eight saves in the fourth quarter at UMBC, allowing just four goals all game. * The Butler game provided the best shutdown defense for the Terps, as they held the Bulldogs off the scoreboard for the first 39:11, shutting them out in the first half. Once Butler scored with 5:49 left in the third quarter, they did not allow another goal until the final minute of the quarter -- giving up one goal in 44:28. * Maryland had is best defensive performance of the season against defending national champion Virginia as they held the Cavaliers to just two goals -- their lowest total since May 1984. The two goals allowed were the fewest by the Wahoos in the series since an 18-0 shutout in 1955. The Terps held Virginia scoreless for the first 24:41 of the game and then for the final 27:59 of the game. Maryland blanked Virginia's top seven scorers, holding them all pointless including All-Americans John Christmas, Matt Ward and Joe Yevoli.
Top-Notch Defenders * Senior captains and All-Americans Chris Passavia and Lee Zink have been stellar this season. They have sliced and diced their opponents, combining to force 47 turnovers in eight games. Passavia leads the team with 25. They have combined to scoop up 47 groundballs as well to rank second and third in the team - Zink (26) and Passavia (21). The duo has consistently shut down opponents' top scoring threats. They held Georgetown's All-American tandem of Walid Hajj and Neal Goldman to one assist between the two. Passavia forced Duke's top scorer Matt Danowski into six turnovers. Against Bucknell, the Terps held the nation's leading scorer Chris Cara to just one goal, as he came into the game averaging over six points a game. Butler's top player Kyle Tietjen, who came into the Maryland game with the most goals in the nation was also held scoreless. Against UNC, Scott Falatach was held to one assist by Zink, while that week's national top goal-scorer Jed Prossner was forced into six turnovers by Passavia. Against Virginia, Passavia and Zink held the Cavaliers top scorers and preseason All-Americans John Christmas and Matt Ward pointless and forced them into three turnovers apiece. * Other defenders have stepped up their play including fellow senior captain Dave Wagner along with juniors Gavin Webb (Columbus, Ohio) and Tyler Hereth (Glastonbury, Conn.) and have been valuable contributors. In his first season as a starter, Wagner has 16 groundballs. Webb has 18 groundballs in his time. * Captain and short-stick defensive midfielder Paul Gillette has been steady and consistent as usual and leads the team with 34 groundballs through eight games, with seven coming at Duke where he also scored and assisted a goal. The team's unsung hero also has assists in four of the last five games and has six total points, seeing time on the second midfield in addition to his defensive duties. * Short-stick defenders Drew Virk (Ross, Calif.) and Ryan Lang have been strong in helping the defense as well.
100th Maryland/Hopkins Game: April 17, 2004 * Maryland and Hopkins are the two most storied lacrosse programs in the nation, with the rivalry beginning with back in 1895 as Hopkins defeated the Maryland Agricultural College. The Blue Jays (32) and Terps (26) have played in the first and third most NCAA Tournaments since the event began in 1971, respectively. Maryland (108) and Hopkins (171) have produced the most first team All-Americans in the history of lacrosse dating to the first awards in 1922. * This year's historic event will feature both teams wearing "throwback jerseys." The Terps will wear the mode of the early 70s when they won two NCAA championships including the 1973 title when they beat the Blue Jays in double-overtime, 10-9 on June 2, 1973. * The logo to the right will be worn by both teams on their commemorative jerseys. Following the game, the jerseys will be auctioned off for charity with Maryland's funds going to the Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore. Hopkins' money will go to the Hopkins Children's Hospital. * Overall, Hopkins holds a 62-36-1 lead in the series. Since the Terrapins elevated to a varsity sport in 1924, Maryland has a 36-52-1 record against Johns Hopkins. There has been at least one Maryland-Hopkins game every year since 1924 with the exception of 1944 and 1945 when World War II kept the schools from fielding teams.
Terps' 79th Season of Lacrosse * Since 2000, Maryland is 53-16 for a .768 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.
Passavia & Zink Up For Tewaaraton * Graduate goalie Tim McGinnis was added to the "Watch List" after his sensational start this season. * The Tewaaraton Trophy is presented annually following the collegiate season to the top female and male varsity collegiate lacrosse players in the United States. The trophy will be presented in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2004, at a banquet honoring the finalists and trophy winners. The ceremony will be held at the National Geographic Society Auditorium and will be broadcast by CSTV. Former Maryland coach Dick Edell is serving as the Chair of the committee which presents the award. Scholarship money is given to the recipient's college or university general scholarship fund. The Foundation committee honors Native American heritage with the name "Tewaaraton," the name the Mohawk nation gave to their game and the progenitor of present day lacrosse which has received approval from the Mohawk Council of Elders.
Four Terps Named Preseason All-Americans
2004 Team Captains: Gillette, Passavia, Wagner, Zink
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Media Information * Scores on your cell phone: Fans can now get score updates sent directly to their cell phones! Just go to any schedule page at www.umterps.com to sign up for the service.
* Terps on the Web: For up-to-date game stories, statistics, schedules and results, and other Maryland athletic department information, please locate www.umterps.com.
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