Greetings from the WakeMed Soccer Park here in Cary, N.C., on this ACC tournament championship Sunday. The No. 2 seed Terps kick off against the No. 4 seed Virginia Cavaliers in just under half an hour.
But for now, some more injury news on starting defensive midfielder Matt Kassel: Unlike Friday night, when Kassel was in a walking boot nursing his right foot contusion, the freshman from New Jersey is dressed today. But he’s still not in the starting lineup. Also from the way he isn’t participating in warm-ups after doing some sprinting and jogging in front of team trainers and coach Sasho Cirovski earlier, it doesn’t look like he’s going to be playing today, although I’m told he was really trying to get ready to go earlier this morning.
Of course, I don’t have any clear indication of the current status of his injury, but my guess is that if today’s game was the second round of the NCAA tournament, he would be playing. Michael Marchiano will take his place just as he did Friday.
The Cavaliers made no major changes to their starting lineup. Forward/midfielder Ross LaBauex, who scored the Cavs lone goal against the Terps in their 2-1 loss to Cirovski’s club on Halloween night, is in the starting lineup after taking a hard fall in Friday night’s upset over Wake Forest.
akrautdbk@gmail.com