Sept. 4, 2008

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland Terrapin women's soccer team finishes its five-game homestand this weekend at Ludwig Field. The Terps take on the American Eagles on Friday, Sept. 5, at 5 p.m. in the first half of a women's-men's soccer doubleheader. The Terps then host the Temple Owls on Sunday, Sept. 7, at 1 p.m.

Did you know ... seven goals is the most a Terps team has scored in its first three games since 2002?

Tickets and Game Promotions
• Click here for ticket information for all 2008 Maryland women's soccer home games.

• Click here for a complete list of game promotions for this season.

Event Multimedia
• Fans will be able to listen to the game by logging on to www.wmucsports.com or they can follow the games on Gametracker.

Scouting The Eagles
• American is off to a 2-2-0 start to the 2008 season under the direction of head coach David Bucciero, who is in his first season at the helm of the program. The Eagles return eight starters from their 2007 squad that compiled a 10-5-3 record.

• American kicked off its 2008 season with a 2-1 overtime loss to Georgetown on Aug. 23. The Eagles followed that performance with another 2-1 loss, this time to Ohio. The Eagles picked up their first win of the season two days later, defeating UMBC, 1-0. American continued its winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Sept. 2.

Did you know ... Maryland has outscored American 9-1 in the team's five meetings?

Scouting The Owls
• Temple is off to a 0-2-0 start to the 2008 season under the direction of fifth-year head coach David Jones. The Owls return 10 starters from their 2007 squad that compiled a 5-10-4 record.

• Temple kicked off its 2008 season with a 1-0 loss at Marist on Aug. 29. The Owls followed that performance with a 3-1 loss to Fairfield. Temple hosts Maine on Sept. 5 before travelling to College Park on Suday.

Did you know ... Temple has outscored Maryland 10-8 in the team's three previous meetings?

Already A Career Year
• For Maryland senior forward Kaila Sciascia, the 2008 season (which is just three games old) has already been a career year. The native of East Northport, N.Y., has already set season bests for goals (3) and points (7) and tied her season-high of one assist. One of the most impressive stats for Sciascia is her shooting percentage, which is 33.3%. She's scored her three goals on just nine shots, but of those shots six have been on frame. That means that she's scoring on half of the shots she's putting on goal so far in 2008.

Youth Movement
• In Maryland's season opening 5-0 win over George Mason, a total of 19 Terps saw the field. Of those 19, 12 were either freshmen or sophomores. Six of the Terps' starting 11 were either freshmen (2) or sophomores (4).

Playing Overtime
• The 0-0 tie with Eastern Kentucky last season marked the third-straight home opener that has ended in a scoreless tie. In 2005 and 2006 the Terps played to a 0-0 draw against Towson.

• During the past four seasons, Maryland has played 27 overtime games (nearly 40% of its total games) with a record of 4-9-14 in those games.

• The Terps played eight overtime matches last season tying the program record for overtime games in a season. Maryland was 1-4-3 in OT a year ago. The 2004 team also played in eight overtime contests, going 2-2-4.

At Ludwig Field
• Since its opening in 1995, Ludwig Field has proved to be a tremendous home-field advantage for the Terps women's soccer team. All-time Maryland is 86-41-14 (.660) at Ludwig Field.

• Through the seasons, the Terps have had a knack for shutting teams out at Ludwig Field. Maryland has won 59 of its 86 victories (69%) at Ludwig Field via shutout. Add in the nine 0-0 ties the Terps have had at Ludwig Field and it totals 68 times that Maryland has shutout its opponent in 141 games (48.2%).

Recruiting Class Honored
• The Maryland women's soccer recruiting class for this fall was tabbed the 14th best in the nation according to Soccer Buzz. The mark is the second highest ranking for a Maryland recruiting class since Soccer Buzz began its polls in 1998 and highest for head coach Brian Pensky, who took over the program in 2005. It is also the Terps' second consecutive Top 20 ranking.

The Terps' ranking is also second in the Mid-Atlantic region, behind only Virginia. Last season, Maryland's class was third in the region, giving the Terps two top three regional classes.

Individually, this year's Terrapin class features nine players ranked among Soccer Buzz's top 500 players in the nation. That ties Maryland with Texas A&M for the second most top 500 players (Florida has 10).

Sade Ayinde is the highest-rated player to commit to Maryland, checking in at No. 34. Also among the top 150 players are Becky Kaplan, Skyy Anderson and Lydia Hastings.

Media Information
• WMUC Radio: Maryland's student radio station WMUC (88.1 FM) will broadcast most home Maryland women's soccer games in 2008 and select road games. A pregame show will air approximately 30 minutes prior to kickoff. WMUC's broadcasts can be heard live on the Internet at wmucsports.com and will be linked to umterps.com.

• Email Straight To You: If you would like the latest Maryland women's soccer news emailed directly to you as soon as it breaks, email women's soccer contact Patrick Fischer at pfischer@umd.edu with the message "Women's Soccer Email" as the subject and you will receive every update.

• 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 on the Internet.

• GameTracker: Follow Terps games live in 2006 on your computer with GameTracker. Links for all games that will be available can be found at www.umterps.com.