The Terrapin field hockey team played its first and only preseason scrimmage today, beating Penn State, 3-1.
The Terps will play their annual red/white game tomorrow at 9 a.m., but today’s matchup against the Nittany Lions was the team’s only real competition before the regular season begins on Aug. 27 at Drexel.
The result was expected, as the Terps are a perennial power, while Penn State didn’t even qualify for last season’s NCAA Tournament.
The Terrapin field hockey team was selected to finish second in the ACC by the six conference coaches, commissioner John Swofford announced today.
The Terps, who won the ACC regular season and tournament last season, placed behind defending national champion North Carolina.
The Tar Heels received 24 out of the 25 possible points, as the Terps claimed one top-place vote en route to a total of 21 points.
The nod to North Carolina makes sense, as the Tar Heels defeated the Terps 3-2 in last year’s national championship game on a last minute penalty corner. North Carolina also returns seven starters, while the Terps only return four.
The Terps went a perfect 5-0 in league play last year, including a 4-1 victory over the Tar Heels on Oct. 24, but it was their final game of the season that inevitably made North Carolina the conference’s top dog.
The conference also announced it’s preseason All-ACC team today. Attacker Katie O’Donnell, the 2009 Honda Award winner and and reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year, and midfielder Megan Frazer were the only two Terps to make the squad.
North Carolina placed three players on the team: midfielders Katelyn Falgowski and Kelsey Kolojejchick and goalie Jackie Kintzer.
Duke and Virginia had two players receive a nod, while Wake Forest and Boston College had one.
For the full list of players on the all-conference team and the full order of predicted finish, check out the ACC’s press release.
The Terps open their season on Aug. 27 at Drexel, with their second game of the season coming just two days later at Villanova. The team’s first home game is Sept. 3 vs. Old Dominion.
The team will also host a scrimmage against Penn State this Friday at 11 a.m. and play its annual red/white scrimmage on Saturday at 9 a.m. Check terrapintrail.com on Friday for an update about what happened against the Nittany Lions.
Jakob Engelke is The Diamondback’s Terrapin field hockey beat reporter. He can be reached at engelke@umdbk.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Jakob_Engelke.
Trotting onto the pitch this year, Terrapin men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski will find himself accompanied by several new faces.
In less than a month following the 2009 season, Cirovski saw both of his assistant coaches leave to take jobs elsewhere.
Russell Payne, who spent six seasons under Cirovski’s tutelage, landed the head coaching job at Army in mid-December. Payne was Cirovski’s first blue-chip recruit for the Terps back in 1993 and went on to be a four-year starter in goal.
Just two days later, Cirovski’s other assistant coach, Rob Vartughian accepted the assistant coach/goalkeeper coordinator position with the Philadelphia Union of the MLS. Vartughian had spent the previous seven years with the Terps.
The pair of assistants helped lead the Terps to two ACC Championships, four College Cup appearances and two National Championships.
Following the departures, Cirovski went searching. He found Michael Dello-Russo and Brian Rowland. He also created another staff position called Director of Soccer Operations, hiring Matt Burke for the job.
“I got all three guys that I wanted,” Cirovski told Jonas Shaffer of the Diamondback. “They’re all ones I wanted and we didn’t have to go too deep into the search. They’re great. They’re terrific. They’re all relatively inexperienced in the coaching ranks, but I feel like it’s a perfect fit for the program myself because I can mold them into the Maryland way pretty quickly. They’ve already done a great job and the players love them.”
Here’s the description of each and what they will bring to the Terp in the 2010 season:
For the next few weeks leading up to the Terrapin men’s soccer season opener against Michigan State on Sept. 3 in College Park, I will take an in-depth look at this year’s team and the upcoming season.
Today I look at the incoming recruiting class for the Terps. While College Soccer News hasn’t released it’s yearly top 40 recruiting rankings, chances are the Terps will find themselves somewhere near the top. Once again, coach Sasho Cirovski has brought in talent from across the country, and the world, to upgrade his roster.
The Terps return nine starters and 23 letterwinners after an Elite Eight finish last season, but several freshmen could find themselves competing for time when the team reports to College Park Tuesday.
Here’s the six-player 2011 class:
The biggest news out of Ralph Friedgen’s office Friday evening is that tight end Will Yeatman, who played for the Terps lacrosse team, broke a finger on his left hand in Thursday’s practice, had surgery Friday and could be out for six weeks.
This news comes after tight end Lansford Watson slightly tore his MCL in practice earlier this week, but Friedgen was optimistic that Watson could return to practice as early as Monday. But Yeatman’s injury could put the senior out for the start of the season.
“He went for a pass and I don’t know if he jammed it into the turf, but he was hit from behind,” Friedgen said. “It’s gonna be tough on him. He missed spring practice and now he’s going to miss training camp. The positive thing is that he was here for the summer, but it’s not quite the same.”
Yeatman played two years of football at Notre Dame (2006 and 2007) before transferring to Maryland. In 2007, he caught six passes for 37 yards, starting three games and playing in 12.
- Defensive back Cameron Chism pulled a hamstring in today’s practice, although Friedgen said he is unsure how bad it is.
- Friedgen is solidifying the offensive line, but the one position in question is right guard. Several times he mentioned the position as one of need. Both Bennett Fulper (So.) and Justin Lewis (R-So.) are competing for the job.
- The special teams unit is coming along and Friedgen is excited about the possibilities. Senior punter Travis Baltz is kicking the ball well after missing five games due to injury last year. Sophomore Nick Ferrara is “not kicking as well as he’s capable of kicking.” Friedgen said the coaches are putting a little extra effort into the punt return game. He has put Don Brown in charge of setting up wide receiver Tony Logan for space.
- Jamaar Robinson impressed Friedgen today with his poise and improving leadership qualities. CJ Brown has also shown marked improvement since spring practice and Friedgen attributes that to hard work over the summer.
- Friedgen started and ended the conversation not pleased overall, though, with how his team practiced.
“Today wasn’t a good day. We didn’t have the same energy that we had the other days. It wasn’t awful, just not as good as the last few days.”
“I talked to them about the difference between good teams and great teams is that good teams play good some of the time and great teams play good all of the time.”
Chris Eckard is a sports writer for the Diamondback. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com
The No. 16 Terrapin women’s soccer team began its quest to improve on its first Sweet 16 appearance Wednesday in Queens, N.Y. ,with a 2-2 draw in a scrimmage against St. John’s.
The favored Terps needed late offensive fireworks to earn the draw after spotting the Red Storm a 2-0 first-half lead. The Terps were able to claw back, however, tying the game in the 81st minute.
The Terps carried play early, but were not able to sneak one past Red Storm goalkeeper Kristin Russell. The unranked Red Storm followed Russell’s lead after four early saves to pump in two goals in four minutes to take the 2-0 lead.
There was no quit in the Terps, however, as they were able to claw back and cut the lead to 2-1 going into halftime to set up the late-minute draw. Junior midfielder Amy O’Sullivan and senior midfielder Erika Theisen scored for the Terps.
More details to follow Friday, when The Diamondback speaks to coach Brian Pensky.
— Conor Walsh
It’s more than an understatement to call Terrapin baseball coach Erik Bakich optimistic. At the beginning of his first season, despite inheriting a team with very little talent and even less tradition of success, he talked about making the ACC Tournament, “smacking teams in the mouth”, and promised to compete for an ACC title in the near future.
Then the season started and it became clear the Terps simply did not have the talent or depth to compete with teams in their conference and they stumbled to a 17-39 (5-25 ACC) record. Coming from Clemson and Vanderbilt, it was easy to tell Bakich wasn’t used to being at such a disadvantage in every game. But he remained optimistic.
The reason was because his other promise was to immediately upgrade the program’s talent level through tireless recruiting. He brought pitching coach Sean Kenny all the way over from Pepperdine and hired Dan Burton away from Austin Peay to be his recruiting coordinator.
Perhaps his best move was convincing Maryland high school coaching legend and program alumnus Bernie Walter to take over as the Director of Baseball Operations, a brand new position.
With the staff in place, Bakich and company proceeded to host a seemingly never-ending conga line of recruits for games, practices and campus tours. He also estimated that once the season ended, none of his coaching staff spent more than three or four weeks in College Park.
Well, with the start of school less than a month away, the team announced a 22-man recruiting class that might be the largest, and best recruiting class in program history.
This is a bit of a refresher if you’re following us on Twitter @DBKSports or jonas_shaffer, but for those who don’t, here’s a glance at what transpired today during the Terps’ football media day:
– Second-string linebacker and rising sophomore Avery Murray has left the program for personal reasons, coach Ralph Friedgen said today. Murray likely would have had the inside track next year for the middle linebacker position Alex Wujciak occupies, but that’s moot now.
– Defensive tackle De’Onte Arnett (cyst on upper ankle) and fullback Taylor Watson (torn ACL) will miss summer practice. Arnett wasn’t penciled in as a starter, but Watson was, and Friedgen said he hopes to get him back in time for the Sept. 18 game at West Virginia.
– Wide receiver Ronnie Tyler and defensive lineman Zach Kerr are finishing up summer classes as they work to remain eligible.
– Running back Da’Rel Scott is up to about 205 lbs. and cut his 40-yard dash time to about 4.29 seconds from 4.37 after a winter on the Terps’ track and field team.
– Defensive tackle A.J. Francis is certainly a fan of the Terps’ new slimmed-down approach to building linemen. He’s cut his body fat to 19 percent from 28 percent, and his grin as he regaled me with tales of chasing down wide receivers this spring could be seen across the room.
More later.
Jonas Shaffer is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at shaffer@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jonas_shaffer.
Earlier today, the NCAA released a much-anticipated Academic Progress Rates database for Division 1 coaches in six sports including men’s basketball and football.
Anyone can search the database.
To calculate APR – an athlete receives one point per semester for remaining academically eligible and another each semester for remaining in school or graduating. A formula is then used to calculate a team score, with 1,000 being perfect.
An APR score of 925 basically translates to a 60 percent graduation rate and is also the cut score for immediate penalties. An APR score of 900 (45 percent graduation rate) is the cut score for historical penalties.
Here’s the NCAA’s scores for University of Maryland -
Men’s Basketball, Gary Williams -938 (2003-2004), 960 (2004-2005), 818 (2005-2006), 900 (2006-2007), 960 (2007-2008), 962 (2008-2009)
Football, Ralph Friedgen- 965, 931, 935, 935, 924, 925
Baseball, Terry Rupp – 946, 957, 976, 982, 930, 938
Baseball, Erik Bakich – 938 (2008-2009)
Women’s Basketball, Brenda Frese – 944, 963, 963, 1000, 965, 961
Women’s Outdoor Track,Andrew Valmon – 980, 1000, 1000, 991, 963, 978
Women’s Indoor Track, Andrew Valmon – 980, 990, 1000, 991, 963, 978
- Terps coaches fell below the 925 mark twice: Williams in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 and Friedgen in 2007-2008
Chris Eckard is a sports writer for the Diamondback. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com