Nov. 15, 1999

COLLEGE PARK, MD.-- - The No. 7 seed Maryland Terrapins (14-5) received its sixth-straight bid to the NCAA men's soccer tournament when the NCAA announced its pairings tonight from their headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind. The Terrapins' first round opponent will be St. John's University (11-5-3). Maryland will host the Red Storm on Sunday, Nov. 21, at Ludwig Field. Game time will be announced tomorrow.

The rest of the Terps bracket shapes up the following way: Penn State hosts William & Mary and the winner of that game would take the Maryland/St. John's winner the weekend of Nov. 27-28. On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 seed Indiana hosts Kentucky with Washington squaring off at Portland.

"It's an honor to get a top-eight seed," said head coach Sasho Cirovski after the selection show Monday night. "I thought the committee did an excellent job of selecting the top 32 schools."

The ACC placed five schools in the tournament, an NCAA record for any conference. Four of the five conference teams earned seeds in the tournament, with Duke the one-seed, Wake Forest the five-seed, Virginia the six-seed, and Maryland the seven-seed.

Sunday's game will mark the first time the two teams will meet in the NCAA Tournament. Maryland lost 2-0 to St. John's in their last meeting. That game was part of the Rutgers Tournament in 1995, the third year of Cirovski's tenure at Maryland.

"I feel our game with St. John's will be a great game because it will pit two top programs with similar philosophies who will play attractive soccer against each other," commented Cirovski. "St. John's is a very well coached, skillful and disciplined team."

Maryland has received a bid to the NCAA men's soccer tournament every year since 1994. In those five appearances, the Terrapins hold a 6-5-1 advantage over their opponents. Last year, Maryland made it all the way to the Final Four for the first time since 1969. The Terrapins lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Stanford in the semifinals on an own goal, despite a Maryland goal that was disallowed for being offsides.

The Terrapins are 18-18-2 overall in the NCAA Tournament. Maryland has gone to the Final Four six times, and were the co-national champions with Michigan State in 1968. In the last five years, Maryland is 6-5-1 in the tournament, including a Final Four run last season. Maryland has not lost a first-round game in its last six appearances, dating back to 1986. The Terps have won five-straight NCAA first round match-ups and hosted three of the five games.

Maryland has received a bid to the NCAA Tournament every year for the past five years. The Terps had not made the NCAA field for eight years previous to receiving their bid in 1994, the year current head coach Sasho Cirovski brought the Terps back to the tournament.