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No. 8 Maryland Men's Soccer Faces No. 14 UCLA in Season Opener
Aug. 28, 2008
CARSON, Calif. - The No. 8 Maryland men's soccer team will take on No. 14 UCLA at 10 p.m. (ET) on Friday night at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. in the Terps season opener. The contest, tabbed the NSCAA Game of the Week, will be shown live on the Fox Soccer Channel. Maryland, which went 10-6-5 last year, concluded the 2007 campaign with a 3-2 overtime loss against Bradley in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. It was the seventh consecutive trip to the tournament for the Terps and the 27th in program history. Returning from that squad are All-ACC performers Omar Gonzalez, Jeremy Hall and Rodney Wallace. The Terps also boast what College Soccer News tabbed as the top recruiting class in the nation. Maryland's freshman class consists of four PARADE All-Americans, including Matt Kassel, Zac MacMath, Casey Townsend and Kaoru Forbess. UCLA also opens up play on Friday night and ended 2007 with a 9-9-3 record. The Bruins lost 14 letterwinners from that team, including four starters. Santa Clara ended the UCLA's season a year ago, defeating the Bruins, 3-1, in the NCAA Second Round. Top returnees for UCLA are All-PAC-10 honorees Jason Leopoldo and Kyle Nakazawa. Brian Perk, the squad's keeper, served as the U.S. Under-20 National Team starter. The Terps own the all-time series, 3-2, against UCLA. Including Friday's matchup, three out of the six contests have played on neutral ground. No team has won two consecutive games in the series. Maryland won the last meeting, 4-1, on Sept. 2, 2006.
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