Aug. 30, 2000

College Park, Md. -

The 2000 Maryland men's soccer team has been ranked No. 14 in Soccer America's preseason poll, as released today by the weekly magazine. The collegiate men's soccer season kicks-off this weekend, with numerous teams competing in tournaments across the country. Maryland will travel to No. 3 Virginia to take on Jacksonville and South Florida in the Virginia/Coca-Cola Classic Tournament to begin its 2000 season.

This fall the Terrapins will face six teams ranked in the Top 20, including playing host to defending national champion and preseason No. 9 Indiana on Sept. 8 in College Park. Indiana will join No. 3 Virginia and the No. 14 Terrapins for what is perhaps the top tournament in the country - the FILA/Maryland Classic on Sept. 8-10.

Other match-ups on the Terrapin schedule with ranked teams include four Atlantic Coast Conference tilts. Always a powerful conference in collegiate men's soccer, the ACC has more teams ranked in the preseason Soccer America poll then any other conference and start the season with five Top 20 teams. Maryland will host current-No. 1 Duke on Sept. 24 and No. 5 Clemson on Oct. 28, both at Ludwig Field. The Terps must travel to meet the other two ranked ACC foes, No. 13 Wake Forest on Sept. 30 and No. 3 Virginia to end the regular season on Nov. 3. The Terps will also play No. 18 UMBC on Sept. 13.

Maryland's starts its 2000 schedule at the Virginia/Coca-Cola Classic Tournament this weekend, Sept. 1-3. The Terps will meet Jacksonville on Friday, Sept. 1 at 5 p.m., and South Florida on Sunday, Sept. 3 at noon to finish the tournament. The team returns home to host the FILA/Maryland Classic on Sept. 8-10 with No. 9 Indiana, No. 3 Virginia and South Carolina.

2000 SOCCER AMERICA  POLL
Team	Record
1.  Duke         	16-1-3
2.  Connecticut  	19-5-0
3.  Virginia     	14-9-1
4.  UCLA 	        15-5-1
5.  Clemson 	         9-8-2
6.  Southern Methodist	16-4-0
7.  Portland     	12-5-2
8.  Penn State    	19-4-1
9.  Indiana      	21-3-0
10. Furman      	21-2-1
11. Rhode Island 	17-4-1
12. Stanford    	12-4-3
13. Wake Forest 	13-3-5
14.  Maryland    	14-6-0
15.  Saint Louis 	17-4-2
16.  Santa Clara 	16-4-3
17.  Alabama-Birmingham 17-6-0
18.  UMBC 	        19-1-2
19.  Brown       	13-5-0
20.  Washington 	15-5-2
2000 Maryland opponents in italics.