As you probably know, Terrapins men’s basketball guard Pe’Shon Howard will miss 10-12 weeks with a broken left foot, which puts him out for basically half of the regular season.
The loss of the sophomore point guard gives coach Mark Turgeon just seven healthy scholarship players entering the season (Alex Len has still not heard from the NCAA). Among them he has four guards (Terrell Stoglin, Sean Mosley, Nick Faust, Mychal Parker) and three forwards (James Padgett, Ashton Pankey, Berend Weijs).
From a team spokesman:
University of Maryland guard Pe’Shon Howard could miss up to 10 to 12 weeks with a broken foot, head coach Mark Turgeon said Thursday.
Howard has broken a small bone in his left foot that will keep him from any workouts for the short-term.
“I feel bad for Pe’Shon,” said Turgeon. “He worked so hard and had a great summer and early fall. He’s been practicing and playing well for us. Hopefully, we’ll get a lot better by the time Pe’Shon joins the team later this year.”
Howard, a 6-foot-3 guard from Los Angeles, averaged 5.4 points and 3.2 assists last season as a freshman. He played in all 33 of Maryland’s games a year ago and was projected to play at the point guard spot again this season.
As The Washington Post’s Steven Goff reported today, DC United may be looking to move out of RFK Stadium.
While nothing’s concrete at this point, one of the possible venues for United might be the university’s very own Byrd Stadium.
In response to an inquiry by The Diamondback, Terps Associate Athletic Director Doug Dull said, “It would be premature to comment on that at this time.”
We don’t know anything at this point, but for a cash-strapped athletics department, this could certainly be a good opportunity to bring in some moolah.
And Dull’s comments seem to indicate that conversation has taken place.
Even the late-night circuit is having its fun with the Terrapins football team. Click ahead to the 1:45 mark to see just what coach Randy Edsall had handed to him.
The Terrapins football team’s two depth chart for the Boston College game, revealing no major shakeups.
-C.J. Brown and Danny O’Brien are listed as co-starters at quarterback, meaning we likely won’t know who is under center until gametime on Saturday.
-Defensive tackle A.J. Francis is also listed as a co-starter, with Maurice Hampton. After a rough start to the year, it looks like Francis is getting his game together.
-Justin Gilbert is listed as Pete White’s backup at left guard, which is notable because Gilbert hasn’t played yet this year while recovering from knee surgery.
-Darin Drakeford is listed is the starter at WILL over Alex Twine. Twine played pretty well, but Drakeford is the starter and now appears to be healthy.
The other notable news of the day is the announcement that the Terps’ game against Virginia on Nov. 5 will be a 12:30 kickoff.
Terrapins football coach Randy Edsall announced yesterday that linebacker Kenny Tate will miss the remainder of the season with an undisclosed injury.
A preseason All-ACC pick, Tate has not played since Oct. 1 against Towson. After joining the team in uniform in recent games against Georgia Tech and Clemson, he wore street clothes Saturday at Florida State.
“I recently had a chance to sit down with Coach Edsall, my family and the medical staff to discuss my options,” Tate said in a release. “This is the best course of action to get healthy and get back on the field next season.”
Edsall said the senior captain will seek a medical redshirt after undergoing surgery this week. Edsall declined to disclose the nature of the injury, but the team release said Tate will be out six to nine months.
“It’s certainly a blow to our team to lose a player and leader of Kenny’s caliber, but we want to do what’s in his best interest,” Edsall said. “Our medical staff determined that surgery was the best way to proceed, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
Freshman linebacker Mario Rowson has started in place of Tate the past three games.
– Conor Walsh
While Senior Days can be seen as great gestures to the members of a team, it can have unintended consequences.
Duke’s starting goalkeeper is Tara Campbell, a junior, who leads the ACC in goals-against average. Her backup is senior Emily Nahas, who got the start today against the Terrapins women’s soccer team for Duke’s Senior Day.
Six minutes into the game, Terps midfielder Lydia Hastings took a shot out of a scrum that snuck by Nahas and gave the Terps an early 1-0 lead that has lasted to halftime.
It hasn’t been easy for the Terps easy, as Duke took seven shots (two on goal) in the first 45 minutes of play. Goalkeeper Yewande Balogun held strong, making two saves, but the chances have still been there for Duke.
The Terps have taken seven shots (two on goal) and have been able to break the Blue Devils defense multiple times, but have only one goal to show for it. With the way the Terps have been playing this year, that could be enough, but after blowing two other 1-0 leads this year, no lead is safe and insurance would help.
Checking in from Koskinen Stadium where the Terrapins women’s soccer team is about to take on Duke.
This is a big game for the No. 15 Terps, as a win would help their cause in solidifying their spot in the ACC Tournament. The Terps are currently in sixth, and the top eight teams make the tournament.
Duke, which is in a three-way tie for first with North Carolina and Virginia, looks to extend their first-place lead in the conference.
Duke’s strongpoint this year has been their defense, which is led by goalkeeper Tara Campbell. She leads the ACC with a 0.36 goals against average. For a Terps team that has had difficulty generating goals this season, this could be an issue.
No starting lineups were distributed, so I will try to keep that updated on Twitter as the game goes on.
Follow me on Twitter for in-game updates, and check back here at halftime for a quick update.
UPDATE: I was just handed the starting lineups, nine minutes before game-time. It is Senior Day for Duke, which appears to the reason that Campbell, a junior, is not the starting goalkeeper, and Emily Nahas earns the start. Also, freshman forward Kelly Cobb, who is tied for the conference lead with five game-winning goals, will come off the bench.
The Terps starting lineup today also features a new look, with a 3-5-2 lineup, featuring two midfielders that were not midfielders when the season started, Lydia Hastings, a former midfielder turned defender, and Danielle Hubka, a former starting forward. It definitely looks like coach Brian Pensky is searching for a spark.
Duke
F: Molly Mack
F: Molly Lester
F: Chelsea Canepa
M: Kaitlyn Kerr
M: Nicole Lipp
M: Gilda Doria
D: Libby Jandl
D: Natasha Anasi
D: Erin Koballa
D: Maddy Haller
GK: Emily Nahas
Terps
F: Jasmyne Spencer
F: Ashley Grove
M: Domenica Hodak
M: Lydia Hastings
M: Olivia Wagner
M: Becky Kaplan
M: Danielle Hubka
D: Megan Gibbons
D: Skyy Anderson
D: Remi Kriz
GK: Yewande Balogun
The Terrapins field hockey team’s struggles against the nation’s top two teams this season continued today, as the No. 3 Terps fell to No. 2 North Carolina, 2-1, in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The story of the game was the North Carolina (16-1, 5-0 ACC) defense’s ability to stifle the Terps (13-3, 4-1) attack in the first half. The Tar Heels took a one-goal lead into the break, holding the Terps scoreless on zero shots.
The Terps came out more aggressively in the second half, getting six penalty-corner chances and taking eight shots, but the top-ranked North Carolina defense was still able to keep them off the board for nearly the entirety of the game.
North Carolina midfielder Kelsey Kolojejchick, the ACC’s leading scorer, scored a goal midway through the half to take a 2-0 lead. The Terps were able to finally score, but not until a penalty-corner chance after time expired.
With the 2-1 loss, the Terps ceded the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in November’s ACC Championship to the Tar Heels. The two teams could face each other again if both make it to the tournament’s final.
Josh Vitale is The Diamondback’s Terrapins field hockey beat reporter. He can be reached at vitale@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoshVitale.
After securing a 1-1 tie at No. 2 North Carolina last night, the Terrapins men’s soccer team is in an advantageous situation with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.
The No. 3 Terps (13-1-2, 4-1-1 ACC) are poised to enter the ACC Tournament with the league’s top seed. They’re leading the second-place Tar Heels (11-2-2, 3-1-2 ACC) in points, 13-11, and the remainder of their regular season slate is favorable.
The Terps will close out ACC play with games against Clemson and Wake Forest—both of which don’t boast winning records in the ACC and are currently not ranked in the top 25 of the NSCAA Coaches Poll.
Last night’s tie also could have major implications for the Terps’ ranking. When the new Coaches Poll is released Tuesday, don’t be surprised to find them ranked No. 1 for the first time since mid-September.
Both of the teams ahead of the Terps in last week’s rankings—Connecticut and North Carolina—suffered losses this week. The top-ranked Huskies lost at West Virginia on Tuesday, and the Tar Heels lost to in-state foe Davidson on Monday.