#8 Maryland (16-14, 6-9) vs. #9 Wake Forest (13-17, 4-12)
Thursday, March 8, 2012 | Noon | Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)
ACC Network-WNUV 54 locally in Baltimore | Terrapin Sports Radio Network

Maryland opens play in the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in a first-round matchup with Wake Forest. The Terrapins beat the Demon Deacons, 70-64, on Jan. 11 in the only regular-season meeting between the teams this year.Terrell Stoglin had 20 points, with James Padgett and Sean Mosley adding 15 each in the victory that marked the first league game of the year at Comcast Center.

Sophomore guard Terrell Stoglin earned second team All-ACC honors on Monday in balloting by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Stoglin remains atop the list of scoring leaders in the league with a 21.2 points-per-game average. He had 25 points in the last game of the regular season on Sunday against Virginia, becoming only the third Terrapin in history to reach 1,000 career points in only his second season.

Nick Faust earned a spot on the 2012 ACC All-Freshman Team on Monday. Faust has averaged 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals in the seven games since he returned to the starting lineup after the season-ending injury to Pe’Shon Howard. It marked the third straight season the Terps have put a student-athlete on the league’s All-Freshman Team (Jordan Williams in 2010, Stoglin in 2011). Faust has six double-figure games in the last seven.

The Terrapins are the eighth seed in the ACC Tournament for the sixth time. Maryland is 5-3 in matchups with Wake Forest, including five straight victories. The Terps lost their first three tournament meetings with the Demon Deacons (1954, 1961, 1963), but turned things around with a win in the 1973 semifinals. The other wins have come in 1984, 2001, 2004 and 2009.

Scouting the Demon Deacons

Wake Forest finished the regular season 13-17 overall with a 4-12 mark in the ACC, getting its four conference wins over Virginia Tech, Boston College and Georgia Tech at home and also defeating BC in Chestnut Hill.

The Demon Deacons possess two of the top-six scorers in the conference in guard C.J. Harris and forward Travis McKie… Harris is fourth in the league with 16.8 ppg and is also the team’s top 3-point shooter, having connected on 48-of-111 attempts (.432) this season… McKie is sixth in the conference with 15.9 ppg and is averaging a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game.

Wake is the best free-throw shooting team in the league (.736), led by Harris (.856) and McKie (.730)… Sophomore guard Tony Chennault is third on the team in scoring (9.3 ppg) and has a team-high 85 assists… Fifth-year senior forward Nikita Mescheriakov is fourth on the team with 7.7 ppg.

Upcoming

The winner of the opening first-round game will face top-seeded North Carolina at noon in Friday’s quarterfinals.

The Terrapins are in the top half of the bracket, meaning they would play in the 1 p.m. semifinal, with the championship game also scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Follow the Entire Tournament

First-round coverage of all four games on Thursday will also be available on ESPNU nationally, with blackouts in the ACC geographic footprint.

Fans can also follow the tournament on Twitter: @ACCmbb, with hashtag #ACCTRNY

It’s the middle of the week. Are you over or under the proverbial hump? Here’s a little hump-day inspired food for thought:

1. Number of Terps wins in the ACC Tournament…+/- 0.5

2. Number of Terrell Stoglin points in the ACC Tournament… +/- 30

3. Number of Kendall Marshall Assists in the ACC Tournament… +/- 24

4. Number of UConn wins in the Big East Tournament…+/- 3.5

5. Number of ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament… +/- 4.5

6. Number of Big East teams in the NCAA Tournament… +/- 7.5

7. Number of Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament… +/- 6.5

8. Number of Peyton Manning games in 2012… +/- 12

9. Number of Peyton Manning TD passes in 2012… +/- 30

10. Number of games Gregg Williams will be suspended over “Bounty-Gate”… +/- 12.5

COLLEGE PARK, MD. – The fourth-ranked Maryland men’s lacrosse team plays its first midweek game of the season when it heads up I-95 to take on intrastate rival UMBC on March 6 at 7 p.m. at UMBC Stadium. The game is scheduled to be streamed live on UMBCRetrievers.tv.

• Maryland (3-0, 1-0 ACC) is coming off of a 10-7 victory over then No. 8 Duke in both team’s conference opener. Senior Drew Snider led the Terps by posting his third career hat trick, which included two man-up goals. Junior Billy Gribbin also had three points (1 goal, 2 assists) for Maryland. Sophomore Niko Amato made nine of his 14 saves in the fourth quarter to secure the victory for the Terrapins. Freshman Goran Murray held All-American Jordan Wolf, the ACC’s leading scorer, to just one shot and one assist in the game.

• For the season, the Terps are led offensively by All-Americans Joe Cummings and John Haus, who each have nine points. Overall, 13 different Terrapins have scored goals this season. Defensively, Amato has stopped 63.5 percent of the shots put on goal by opponents and has a 6.49 goals-against average. Sophomore Brian Cooper leads the team with seven caused turnovers. Junior Curtis Holmes is winning 64.2 percent of his face-offs and is the team leader in groundballs with 19.

• The Retrievers are 1-2 on the season after dropping a 10-9 decision in overtime to No. 17 Fairfield. UMBC started the season with a 10-8 home loss to Robert Morris on Feb. 18. The Retrievers then won their first game of the season, 11-7, at Rutgers on Feb. 26. Attackman Scott Jones and midfielder Zach Linkous lead UMBC with eight points on seven goals and one assist. Adam Cohen has logged all 180-plus minutes in goal for the Retrievers and has an 8.96 goals-against average and a 57.1 save percentage.

The Count Down

10 … Since 2002 Maryland has won 85 of the 92 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .924 winning percentage.
9 … Maryland is 102-22 in games since 2002 when it allows nine goals or less, for an .823 winning percentage.
8 … Eight Terps have at least one goal and one assist this season.
7 … Seven current Terps have scored a goal vs. UMBC during their careers.
6 … Maryland has converted six of seven extra-man opportunities so far this season.
5 … Maryland is off to a 3-0 start for the fifth time in the past 10 seasons.
4 … Joe Cummings had his first career four-goal game in the 2011 game vs. UMBC.
3 … The last time UMBC and Maryland played a nighttime weekday game was the three OT game in 2008.
2 … This will be John Tillman’s second career game vs. UMBC as a head coach.
1 … David Miller earned his first career point vs. Duke by assisting on Billy Gribbin’s goal in the third quarter.

Coaching Match-Up
• John Tillman is in his fifth season as a head coach, and second with the Terps, with a 36-24 career record for a 60.0 winning percentage. Tillman is 16-5 (.762) as Maryland’s head coach. He had a 20-19 record in three seasons as the head coach at Harvard.

• Don Zimmerman is in his 25th season season as a head coach and holds a lifetime record of 208-131 (.614). He has been the head coach at UMBC for 18 years and is 135-116 (.539) with the Retrievers.

• Coach Tillman’s is 1-0 all-time vs. UMBC as a head coach.

Series History vs. UMBC
• Maryland holds a 26-7 lifetime advantage in 33 meetings with state rival UMBC. Maryland has won 10 of the last 13 games, but the Retreivers have taken three of the last five. Prior to that, UMBC had not defeated the Terps since taking back-to-back games in 1998 and 1999.

• For the second straight season Grant Catalino tied his career high with seven points to lead the Terps to a 15-6 rout of the Retrievers. Catalino scored six goals, which also tied his career high, while Joe Cummings also set a career-best with four goals. Niko Amato allowed just five goals during his 55:03 and made 12 saves.

• In 2010, Grant Catalino tied his career high with seven points to lead the Terps to their first victory over the Retrievers since the 2007 regular season. Catalino combined with fellow attackmen Travis Reed and Ryan Young for 14 points in the 13-7 win. Senior Brian Phipps made 12 saves for Maryland, while Max Schmidt led the defender with three groundballs and three caused turnovers.

• The Retrievers won their third straight over the Terps, taking a 9-7 victory at Ludwig Field in 2009. Grant Catalino and Ryan Young each had hat tricks for Maryland, but the Terrapins couldn’t overcome a three-goal halftime deficit.

• In 2008 the two teams hooked up in a Friday night game that saw the Retreivers eek out a 9-8 win in triple-overtime. The Terps used a 3-0 scoring blitz in the fourth quarter to take an 8-7 lead, but UMBC tied the game with just 5.8 seconds to go to send the game into OT. Max Ritz led the Terrapins with two goals and an assist, while Grant Catalino and Drew Evans each had a goal and an assist.

• In the 2007 NCAA Tournament Maryland jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the Retrievers responded by going on a 9-2 run spanning the second and third quarters to advance to the quarterfinals. Max Ritz and Dan Groot each had four points for the Terps, while Bryn Holmes won 10-of-14 face-offs and picked up a career-high nine groundballs.

• Earlier in 2007, Maryland topped the Retrievers, 11-7, at Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium. Sophomore midfielder Jeremy Sieverts scored his first hat trick as a Terp, while junior attackman Max Ritz chipped in with two goals and an assist. Senior defender Ray Megill scored the first poitnts of his career with a goal and an assist.

• The Terps entered the 2006 game as the No. 1 team in the nation and the Retrievers were looking for the upset. Maryland only led by one heading into the fourth quarter, but the Terrapin defense shutout UMBC for the final 15 minutes, allowing the offense to score four unanswered goals to take home a 9-4 win. The senior trio of Bill McGlone (2-2=4), Xander Ritz (3-0=3) and Joe Walters (3-0=3) were the main weapons for the Terrapins but it was junior attackman Michael Phipps that scored the game-winning goal.

• In 2005 Joe Walters tied then-career highs with six goals and seven points to lead No. 4 Maryland to a 16-10 win over the Retrievers at Byrd Stadium. First team All-American Bill McGlone also had a career day for the Terps, setting his career high with five goals in the victory. Brendan Healy scored twice and added a pair of assists, while long pole Ryan Clarke set his career high with six groundballs. The Terrapins dominated possession, thanks in large part to winning 20 of 29 face-offs. David Tamberrino won 14 of 18, tying his personal best for wins in a game.

• In 2004 Joe Walters lead the Terps to a hard-fought 9-4 win with a natural hat trick in the second quarter. The Maryland defense was sensational, holding UMBC scoreless for 29:12 bridging the second through the fourth quarters. Terp goalie Tim McGinnis made 13 saves, including eight in the fourth quarter to preserve the victory.

• In the 2003 game in College Park, Mike Mollot and Joe Walters each had three goals while former Retriever Justin Smith had two goals and two assists in his first game vs. his former team.

• This will be just the sixth time the two teams will play in the month of March. The 2003 game on April 25 was the first time since 1977, that Maryland-UMBC game was not be played in May. The UMBC game had been the last contest on Maryland’s regular-season schedule for the 13 years, dating 1990 through 2002, with Maryland winning 10 of 13 regular-season finales..

Going Purple
· Once again this season, the Terps will be wearing purple “MY” stickers, to show their support for the fight against pancreatic cancer, which touched everyone in the Maryland lacrosse family last season with the passing of Maria Young on April 17.

· This past fall the Terps, Maryland alums and family and friends came together for the inaugural Forever Young Walk/Run for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness. More on Ms. Young and her amazing story can be found here: Forever Young.

· If you’re interested in more information about the Lustgarten Foundation, including how to make a donation, click here to visit the foundation’s website. You can also get more information on pancreatic cancer at CurePC.org.

In case you’re wondering here are some facts about pancreatic cancer from the American Cancer Society:
· More than 43,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer present each year
· There are more than 36,000 deaths from pancreatic cancer each year
· The lifetime risk of having pancreatic cancer is about 1 in 71.
· The risk is about the same for both men and women.

Going Gray
· Maryland players will also be wearing gray stickers with the number 42 in honor of Zack Wholley’s father, John, who passed away from brain cancer on August 28, 2011.

· If you’re interested in more information, please visit the National Brain Tumor Society website.

In case you’re wondering here are some facts about brain and spinal cord tumors from the American Cancer Society:
· About 22,910 malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord (12,630 in males and 10,280 in females) will be diagnosed. These numbers would likely be much higher if benign tumors were also included.
· About 13,700 people (7,720 males and 5,980 females) will die from these tumors.
· Overall, the chance that a person will develop a malignant tumor of the brain or spinal cord in his or her lifetime is about one in 150 for a man and one in 185 for a woman.

Get To 10 And Win
• One axiom of lacrosse is that if you score 10 goals or more your chances of winning are pretty good. Well, a look at the results since 2002 shows that when Maryland scores 10 or more goals there’s not just a pretty good chance the Terrapins will win; it’s an almost certainty. Since 2002 Maryland has won 85 of the 92 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .924 winning percentage.

· The Terps scored 11 vs. Johns Hopkins on April 16, 2011, but the Blue Jays won the game in overtime, 12-11. On April 3 of last season the Terps lost to No. 1 Virginia by a final of 11-10, giving Maryland its only loss when scoring 10 or more goals in 2010. In 2009 the Terps lost to Georgetown, 13-10 on Feb. 21 and lost again when scoring 10 in the ACC Semifinals in a 16-10 defeat at North Carolina. Prior to that, Maryland had not lost when scoring 10 or more goals since dropping an 11-10 decision to Virginia in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in Durham, N.C. The Terrapins got to 10 goals in the 100th game against Johns Hopkins, but the Blue Jays took the game 14-10. Virginia is the only team to beat the Terps twice when allowing 10 or more goals. The Wahoos did it first in 2002 with another 11-10 decision..

Holding Opponents To Single-Digits
• The Terps have been extremely impressive (winning 92.2 percent of its games since 2002) when it scores 10 or more goals, they have been nearly as impressive when holding opponents to less than 10 goals during that span.

• Since 2002 Maryland is 102-22 in games, for a .823 winning percentage, when it has held opponents under 10 goals. The Terps have played 165 total games since 2002. Maryland has held opponents to nine goals or less 75.1 percent of the time.

Youth Is Served
• Maryland started two sophomores (Michael Ehrhardt and Brian Cooper) and a freshman (Goran Murray) at close defense in the 2012 season-opening win over Hartford. The last time Maryland’s defense had two sophomore and one freshman starting was 2005 when sophomores Steve Whittenberg and Ray Megill started alongside freshman Joe Cinosky. The first game that group started together was April 23, 2005 at Fairfield (a 9-6 Terrapin win).

• Goran Murray became the first Maryland freshman to start at close defense in a season opener since 2008 when Max Schmidt started in an 11-6 win at Georgetown.

Face-Off Firsts
• Junior Curtis Holmes’ 19-of-20 (.950) performance facing-off vs. Hartford in the 2012 season opener is just the fifth time since 2000 that a Maryland face-off man has won at least 90% of his draws with at least 10 attempts.

• Holmes joins Andy Claxton and Brian Haggerty as the only Terps with multiple games of 19 or more face-off wins. Claxton did it three times (27 at Towson in 1991, 21 vs. Duke in 1991 and 19 at Brown in 1991), while Haggerty did it twice (20 vs. Butler in 1998 and 19 vs. Virginia in 1998). Holmes had 20 wins vs. Georgetown last season to go along with his 19 vs. the Hawks, which makes him the only Terp to win 19 or more face-offs in different seasons.

• The last 90% performance was in 2008 when Bryn Holmes, Curtis’ older brother, won 9-of-10 face-offs at Mount St. Mary’s.

• The last time a Terp faced-off with a winning percentage above 90% was on March 21, 2006 when David Tamberrino won 12-of-13 in a 14-2 win over Dartmouth.

Best Face-Off Performances Since 2000
Curtis Holmes – 19/20 (.950) vs. Hartford 2/18/12
Brian Carroll – 12/13 (.923) at Delaware 3/17/01
Davin Tamberrino – 12/13 (.923) vs. Dartmouth 3/21/06
Jeremy Pastula – 11/12 (.917) at Towson 3/8/03
Bryn Holmes – 9/10 (.900) at Mount St. Mary’s 2/26/08
Bryn Holmes – 12/14 (.857) vs. Presbyterian 2/13/09
Brian Carroll – 11/13 (.846) vs. Mount St. Mary’s 2/26/02
Bryn Holmes – 11/13 (.846) vs. Air Force 2/14/09
Ryan Moran – 10/12 (.833) vs. Bucknell 3/11/03
Will Dalton – 18/22 (.818) vs. Vermont 2/20/07
Curtis Holmes – 17/21 (.810) vs. Detroit Mercy 2/19/11

Maryland In Season Openers
• Maryland has a 83-3-1 (.960) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1924 season. The Terps have won their last 19 openers and 26 of the last 27, with the only loss coming to Duke in 1993, when they fell to Duke 9-5 on March 6.

• After losing their 1925 opener to Yale, 5-3, the Terps went on to win 40 consecutive season openers from 1926 through 1967. The streak was broken when Maryland tied Princeton, 6-6, in the 1968 opener. Following the deadlock, Maryland went on to win its next 14 openers, giving the Terps a 54-0-1 record over a 57-year span (Maryland did not field a team in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II.)

19 Straight in Season Openers
• After beating Hartford to open the 2012 season the Terps have an 19-game winning streak in season openers. Five of those wins came against Villanova (1994-98) and the last nine over Denver, Mount St. Mary’s, Air Force, Hobart, Duke, Georgetown (four times), Bellarmine (twice), Presbyterian, Detroit Mercy and Hartford. Over the 19-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 267-99 (an average score of 14.1-5.2) in those games.

· The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 18 years. Maryland has not allowed an opponent to score 10 or more goals in a season opener since Syracuse beat the Terps, 16-13 on March 9, 1983.

First-Time Opponents
• Maryland has played 78 different opponents in its 87 seasons. The 2012 season added Hartford (a 12-6 win on 2/18) and will add Marist (3/10) to that list. In the Terps’ 78 first-time meetings Maryland is 74-4 (.949) in those games. Adelphi (12-13, 1982), Army (0-3, 1923), Syracuse (3-10, 1927) and Yale (3-5, 1925) are the only schools to beat the Terps the first time the schools met on a lacrosse field.

Consecutive 10-Win Seasons
· The 11-9 victory over Duke on April 24, 2011 was the 10th of the year for Maryland, giving it nine straight seasons with double-digit wins. (Special thanks to Patrick Stevens of the D1Scourse.com).

· How does that stack up against the rest of the college lacrosse programs? Take a look at programs with at least five-straight 10-win seasons:
Maryland (9): 2011 (13-5), 2010 (12-4), 2009 (10-7), 2008 (10-6), 2007 (10-6), 2006 (12-5), 2005 (11-6), 2004 (13-3), 2003 (12-4)
Cornell (7): 2011 (12-3), 2010 (12-6), 2009 (11-3), 2008 (11-4), 2007 (15-1), 2006 (11-3), 2005 (11-3)
Virginia (7): 2011 (13-5), 2010 (16-2), 2009 (14-2), 2008 (14-4), 2007 (12-4), 2006 (17-0), 2005 (11-4)
Notre Dame (6): 2011 (11-3), 2010 (10-7), 2009 (15-1), 2008 (14-3), 2007 (11-4), 2006 (10-5)
Duke (5): 2011 (14-6), 2010 (16-4), 2009 (15-4), 2008 (18-2), 2007 ( 17-3)
Siena (5): 2011 (13-5), 2010 (12-5), 2009 (12-6), 2008 (10-6), 2007 (10-6)

The 700 Club
· Maryland’s 15-6 victory over Penn on April 14, 2009 was the program’s 700th victory in 84 seasons of varsity men’s lacrosse. The Terps join Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Navy and Army as the only programs with 700 or more Division I wins.

· Two things that make Maryland’s accomplishment all the more impressive is that the Terps reached the 700-win plateau in just their 84th season. Only Syracuse reached win No. 700 in as few seasons, but it took the Orange 53 more games than Maryland. In fact, Maryland needed only 940 games to reach 700 wins and only Johns Hopkins needed fewer games (932) to hit the historic number, but the Blue Jays did so in their 105th season.

Terps’ 87th Season Of Lacrosse
· The Terps boast an all-time record of 731-247-4 (.746), dating back to the first varsity team in 1924 (a team was not fielded in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II). Maryland has finished every one of its previous 85 seasons with a .500 or better record, including last season when the Terps went 10-6. The program reached the 700-win milestone with a 15-6 victory over Penn on April 14, 2009 at Ludwig Field.

· During the decade of the 2000s, Maryland went 111-49 for a .694 win percentage, making it the winningest decade in Terrapin lacrosse history. In the decade of the 1990s, Maryland posted a 95-47 record. The .669 winning percentage matched Maryland’s win percentage of the 1980s when the Terps went 83-41 and also compiled a .669 win percentage. So far, Maryland is 25-9 in the 2010′s for a .735 winning percentage.

A Family Affair
· Many school’s refer to their sports programs as families, but the Maryland men’s lacrosse program is truely a family affair. Since 2002, the Terps have had 13 sets of brothers, including three on this season’s roster, don the red and black together for at least one season.

Harry & Thomas Alford: 2004-05-06-07
Jake & Jesse Bernhardt: 2010-11-12
Justin & Owen Blye: 2009-10-11
Brian & Kevin Cooper: 2011-12
Billy & Bobby Gribbin: 2012
Brendan & Ian Healy: 2003-04-05
Bryn & Curtis Holmes: 2010
Bryn & Travis Holmes: 2007
Dan & Mike LaMonica: 2002
Chris & Willy Passavia: 2002-03
Brian & Michael Phipps: 2007
Max & Xander Ritz: 2005-06
Mark & Michael White: 2008-09-10-11

Three Taken In MLL Draft
· Three University of Maryland men’s lacrosse seniors were selected in the 2012 Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft. Midfielder Jake Bernhardt was the highest pick, being selected with the 12th overall selection by the Hamilton Nationals. Midfielder/attackman Joe Cummings was the next Terp taken, going 17th overall to the Rochester Rattlers. Midfielder Drew Snider went 45th overall by the Chesapeake Bayhawks.

2012 Team Captains
· Five players have been named team captains for the 2012 season. The quintet, which was selected by a combination of team vote and coaches’ input, consists of seniors Jake Bernhardt, Joe Cummings and Drew Snider and juniors Jesse Bernhardt and Owen Blye. Blye and Jesse Bernhardt are the first pair of juniors to be named team captains since Bob Ott and Randy Ratliff were among four captains in 1978.

Honorable Mention: Boxing-Orlando Salido vs. Juan Manuel Lopez (Saturday 10pm from San Juan, Puerto Rico live on Showtime); Mixed Martial Arts: Bellator Fighting Championships 60 (Friday 8pm from Hammond, IN live on MTV2); Soccer: MISL Eastern Division Final-Rochester Lancers @ Baltimore Blast (Saturday 7:35pm 1st Mariner Arena, Leg 2 Monday 7pm in Rochester); Tennis: ATP Tour/WTA Tour BNP Paribas Open (Saturday-Monday 2pm from Indian Wells, CA live on Tennis Channel); Charm City Roller Girls (Saturday 5:30pm Du Burns Arena)

10. Black Keys/Arctic Monkeys (Friday 8pm Verizon Center); Boyce Avenue (Wednesday 6:30pm Rams Head Live), Pat Green (Friday 8pm Rams Head Live), moe. (Saturday 8pm Rams Head Live), Orgy (Sunday 6:30pm Rams Head Live); Cris Jacobs Band (Friday 8pm 8×10 Club), Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers (Saturday 8pm 8×10 Club); Kindred the Family Soul (Friday 7:30pm Baltimore Soundstage); Playing for Change Band (Wednesday 8pm Rams Head on Stage); Mutemath (Saturday 7pm 9:30 Club), Young The Giant/Grouplove (Sunday 7pm 9:30 Club); Experience Hendrix feat. Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Tuesday 8pm Strathmore); Travis Tritt (Tuesday 7:30pm Birchmere); North Mississippi All-Stars (Saturday 9pm State Theatre); Bruce Springsteen “Wrecking Ball” available in stores/on iTunes (Tuesday)

The Black Keys sold out the Verizon Center. That’s amazing. I’ll most look forward to the part where the place that usually houses smelly Caps fans turns into one large Phoenix Coyotes rally…

Boyce Avenue is not an act I should ever voluntarily admit to enjoying. I should ABSOLUTELY never admit to enjoying their cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella”…

The PFC band is fantastic. You’ll probably remember this…

Young The Giant authored perhaps the single most underrated song of 2011…

9. Bill Bellamy (Thursday-Saturday Baltimore Comedy Factory); Kevin Pollak (Thursday-Saturday Magooby’s Joke House); Todd Glass (Thursday-Sunday DC Improv); Baltimore St. Patrick’s Day Parade/Shamrock 5K (Sunday 1:15pm Inner Harbor/Downtown Baltimore); “Friends With Kids” opens in theaters (Friday)

One-I love a good St. Patty’s Day throw down a week before the 17th. In honor of that, I think I’ll make a stop at the Tilted Kilt in White Marsh after the parade…

Note: I’m aware that’s a Scotish thing. It’s late. I’m tired.

Note 2: Does it really matter anyway?

And since we’re here, I actually think “Friends With Kids” has a bit of a “watchable chick flick” feel. It also has Jon Hamm. As in THIS Jon Hamm…

COLLEGE PARK, MD. – The fifth-ranked Maryland men’s lacrosse team opens its ACC schedule with No. 8 Duke on March 3 at 1 p.m. The game will be the first time since 2007 that the Terrapins and the Blue Devils will play on Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium. The game will be streamed live on WatchESPN.com with Booker Corrigan and Ryan Boyle handling the announcing duties.

• Maryland is 2-0 so far and is coming off of a 16-11 thumping of Georgetown last Friday, Feb. 24, in Washington, D.C. Senior Joe Cummings set his career high with six points on four goals and two assists to lead the Terrapins, who never trailed in the game. Junior John Haus had another four-point game, his second of 2012, with a goal and three assists. The starting close defense shutdown the Hoya attack unit, allowing just one goal in 6-on-6 play. Junior Landon Carr had a terrific outing, scoring a goal and picking-up a career-best six groundball.

• The Blue Devils are 3-1 on the season after sweeping a pair of games last weekend vs. Penn and Jacksonville. Duke’s lone loss of the season came in its only road game, a 7-3 decision at Notre Dame on Feb. 18. The Blue Devils are led offensively by sophomore Jordan Wolf, who leads the ACC with 14 points on nine goals and five assists. Long pole CJ Costabile has been tremendous at the face-off X, winning 60 percent of his draws and has a team-leading 19 groundballs. Dan Wigrizer was solid in goal in the first two games of the season, but Kyle Turri started both games last weekend.

The Count Down
10 … Since 2002 Maryland has won 84 of the 91 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .923 winning percentage.
9 … Maryland is 101-22 in games since 2002 when it allows nine goals or less, for an .821 winning percentage.
8 … Over the past eight seasons, Maryland and Duke have played 11 times with the Terps holding a 6-5 series lead since 2005.
7 … John Haus has seven career points vs. the Blue Devils in four meetings.
6 … Six of the last 10 all-time meetings between Maryland and Duke have been played at a neutral site.
5 … In the last 10 regular season meetings between Duke and Maryland each team has five wins.
4 … Duke has already played four games this season.
3 … In the last 10 regular season meetings between Duke and Maryland the goal-differential is just three goals (101-98 Duke).
2 … This will be the second of two Maryland games streamed on WatchESPN.com this season.
1 … This will be the first regular season game between Duke and Maryland played in Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium since 2007.

Coaching Match-Up
• John Tillman is in his fifth season as a head coach, and second with the Terps, with a 35-24 career record for a 59.3 winning percentage. Tillman is 15-5 as Maryland’s head coach. He had a 20-19 record in three seasons as the head coach at Harvard.

• Duke’s John Danowski is in his 30th season as a head coach and holds an all-time record of 302-159 (.655). He is in his sixth season at Duke and has a 83-20 (.806) record with the Blue Devils.

• Tillman has a 4-3 career record against Duke while coaching at Maryland and Harvard, all against Danowski. His first win vs. the Blue Devils came in the 2009 season opener at Harvard. The Crimson upset No. 5 Duke, 9-6, at Koskinen Stadium in Durham. Last season, Tillman’s Terps defeated Duke, 11-9, in the ACC championship game at Koskinen Stadium and then again, 9-4, in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament in M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore..

Series History vs. Duke
• Maryland and Duke have played 77 times. The Terps hold a 58-19 edge (.753) in the series that dates back to 1940. Maryland’s 58 wins against the Blue Devils are the most against any opponent.

• The stakes were much higher in the 2011 rubber match as unseeded Maryland defeated No. 5 seed Duke, 9-4, in a tough, physical game in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Grant Catalino led the offensive attack for the Terps with three goals, while Joe Cummings added two goals and an assist. The Terrapin defense was terrific in holding the Blue Devils to just four goals with Niko Amato making 13 saves to send the Terps to their first NCAA title-game appearance since 1998.

• The 2011 rematch took place again at Duke’s Koskinen Stadium, but this time the stakes were a bit higher – the ACC championship. This time it was the Terps coming away with an 11-9 victory to take its first conference crown since 2005. Ryan Young scored the first game-winning goal of his career when he jumped in the air to redirect a John Haus pass from behind the cage. Grant Catalino earned tournament MVP honors after scoring three goals vs. the Blue Devils in the title game.

• For the second time in two years the Terps and the Blue Devils needed overtime to decide things, but in 2011 in Durham it was Duke that pulled out a 9-8 victory on freshman Jordan Wolf’s game-winning goal 1:01 into the first OT. The Blue Devils held a 7-4 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but four-straight goals by Landon Carr, Michael Shakespeare, Joe Cummings and John Haus, who finished with three goals in the game, gave Maryland a one-goal lead with 3:48 to go. Maryland appeared to have the game wrapped up in the final seconds when Carr forced a Blue Devil turnover, but a controversial holding call gave Duke another chance and Zach Howell scored with 0:03 left to send the game into overtime. Both goalies were sensational in the game with Maryland’s Niko Amato making 19 saves and Duke’s Dan Wigrizer stopped 17 shots.

• The 2010 meeting will go down as one of the most memorable in the series as the Terps pulled out an 11-10 overtime victory at the 2010 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore. Grant Catalino was the star of the game for the Terps, netting a career-best five goals, including the game-winner. Duke scored the final three goals of regulation to send the game into OT and then controlled possession for all but eight seconds of overtime, but that’s all the Terps needed for Bryn Holmes to cause a turnover, Brian Farrell to scoop a groundball and Dean Hart to push the transition and find Catalino on the left wing for the game-winning shot. Senior goalie Brian Phipps made 15 saves in the win.

• Maryland won an 11-8 decision over the Blue Devils at the 2009 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore. Jeff Reynolds was the key factor for the Terps in the victory. He scored a goal and had an assist, but he won three key face-offs that led directly to goals that spurred Maryland onto the win. Grant Catalino had six points on two goals and four assists, while Ryan Young had five points on a pair of scores and three helpers.

• In 2008 the Blue Devils defeated the Terps, 15-7, in Durham, N.C. Travis Reed totaled three goals for the Terps in the defeat.

• The 2007 meeting was the first road game for the Blue Devils since their 2006 season was cancelled. Duke responded with a 14-7 victory behind a six-goal, seven-point effort from Matt Danowski. Max Ritz led the Terps in the game with a three-point effort on two goals and an assist.

• The 2006 season saw the rivalry escalate even more as the teams entered the game ranked first and second in the nation. The game more than lived up to the hype as the two squads battled and needed overtime to decide the victor. In that overtime, Xander Ritz sent the Terps home with the 8-7 win after scoring his fifth goal of the game with 1:14 remaining in the first extra period.

• In 2005 the two teams played three times with the Blue Devils winning two of the three games. It was the second time in the series the two squads played three times in a season. In 1992 the two teams played in early March, again in the ACC Tournament and in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Maryland won all three games that season.

• In the 2005 NCAA Semifinals, Duke ended Maryland’s season with a 18-9 defeat at Lincoln Financial Field. Bill McGlone gave the Terps a 1-0 lead, but the Blue Devils responded with nine unanswered goals and took a 10-3 lead into halftime. Joe Walters scored three times in the third quarter, but Maryland could not close the deficit.

• In 2005′s ACC Final, Maryland turned in its finest defensive effort of the year. The Terps held Duke, the nation’s highest scoring offense, scoreless for more than 40 minutes en route to a 9-5 victory at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on May 1. ACC Tournament MVP Harry Alford made 15 saves on the afternoon, while freshman Will Dalton helped the Terps control the ball on face-offs, winning 7-of-10 draws. Offensively Maryland was led by All-American Joe Walters who scored his second straight hat trick vs. the Blue Devils, while adding an assist. Freshman attackman Max Ritz also chipped in a pair for goals in the victory.

• The 2005 regular season game saw Maryland dominate Duke at the Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex, but the Blue Devils found a way to get out of College Park with a 10-8 victory. All-American Joe Walters scored a hat trick for the Terps, but Duke outscored Maryland 6-3 in the second half to secure the win. Michael Phipps scored two goals and added an assist for his second career three-point game.

• The Terps dominated the series from 1955 through 1988, winning all 27 meetings.

• The teams have met four times in the NCAA Tournament with Maryland winning 13-11 in 1992, Duke retaliating 14-9 in 1994, and the Blue Devils taking the 2005 match-up 18-9. Maryland took the most recent NCAA meeting, 9-4, in the 2011 Final Four in Baltimore.

Going Purple For A Good Cause
· Saturday’s game vs. Duke on March 3 is a “Purple Out.” All fans are encouraged to wear purple to the game to help raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.

Going Gray
· Maryland players will also be wearing gray stickers with the number 42 in honor of Zack Wholley’s father, John, who passed away from brain cancer on August 28, 2011.

· If you’re interested in more information, please visit the National Brain Tumor Society website.

In case you’re wondering here are some facts about brain and spinal cord tumors from the American Cancer Society:
· About 22,910 malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord (12,630 in males and 10,280 in females) will be diagnosed. These numbers would likely be much higher if benign tumors were also included.
· About 13,700 people (7,720 males and 5,980 females) will die from these tumors.
· Overall, the chance that a person will develop a malignant tumor of the brain or spinal cord in his or her lifetime is about one in 150 for a man and one in 185 for a woman.

Maryland In Season Openers
• Maryland has a 83-3-1 (.960) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1924 season. The Terps have won their last 19 openers and 26 of the last 27, with the only loss coming to Duke in 1993, when they fell to Duke 9-5 on March 6.

• After losing their 1925 opener to Yale, 5-3, the Terps went on to win 40 consecutive season openers from 1926 through 1967. The streak was broken when Maryland tied Princeton, 6-6, in the 1968 opener. Following the deadlock, Maryland went on to win its next 14 openers, giving the Terps a 54-0-1 record over a 57-year span (Maryland did not field a team in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II.)

19 Straight in Season Openers
• After beating Hartford to open the 2012 season the Terps have an 19-game winning streak in season openers. Five of those wins came against Villanova (1994-98) and the last nine over Denver, Mount St. Mary’s, Air Force, Hobart, Duke, Georgetown (four times), Bellarmine (twice), Presbyterian, Detroit Mercy and Hartford. Over the 19-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 267-99 (an average score of 14.1-5.2) in those games.

· The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 18 years. Maryland has not allowed an opponent to score 10 or more goals in a season opener since Syracuse beat the Terps, 16-13 on March 9, 1983.

First-Time Opponents
• Maryland has played 78 different opponents in its 87 seasons. The 2012 season added Hartford (a 12-6 win on 2/18) and will add Marist (3/10) to that list. In the Terps’ 78 first-time meetings Maryland is 74-4 (.949) in those games. Adelphi (12-13, 1982), Army (0-3, 1923), Syracuse (3-10, 1927) and Yale (3-5, 1925) are the only schools to beat the Terps the first time the schools met on a lacrosse field.

Get To 10 And Win
• One axiom of lacrosse is that if you score 10 goals or more your chances of winning are pretty good. Well, a look at the results since 2002 shows that when Maryland scores 10 or more goals there’s not just a pretty good chance the Terrapins will win; it’s an almost certainty. Since 2002 Maryland has won 84 of the 91 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .923 winning percentage.

· The Terps scored 11 vs. Johns Hopkins on April 16, 2011, but the Blue Jays won the game in overtime, 12-11. On April 3 of last season the Terps lost to No. 1 Virginia by a final of 11-10, giving Maryland its only loss when scoring 10 or more goals in 2010. In 2009 the Terps lost to Georgetown, 13-10 on Feb. 21 and lost again when scoring 10 in the ACC Semifinals in a 16-10 defeat at North Carolina. Prior to that, Maryland had not lost when scoring 10 or more goals since dropping an 11-10 decision to Virginia in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in Durham, N.C. The Terrapins got to 10 goals in the 100th game against Johns Hopkins, but the Blue Jays took the game 14-10. Virginia is the only team to beat the Terps twice when allowing 10 or more goals. The Wahoos did it first in 2002 with another 11-10 decision..

Holding Opponents To Single-Digits
• The Terps have been extremely impressive (winning 92.2 percent of its games since 2002) when it scores 10 or more goals, they have been nearly as impressive when holding opponents to less than 10 goals during that span.

• Since 2002 Maryland is 101-22 in games, for a .821 winning percentage, when it has held opponents under 10 goals. The Terps have played 161 total games since 2002. Maryland has held opponents to nine goals or less 76.4 percent of the time.

Youth Is Served
• Maryland started two sophomores (Michael Ehrhardt and Brian Cooper) and a freshman (Goran Murray) at close defense in the 2012 season-opening win over Hartford. The last time Maryland’s defense had two sophomore and one freshman starting was 2005 when sophomores Steve Whittenberg and Ray Megill started alongside freshman Joe Cinosky. The first game that group started together was April 23, 2005 at Fairfield (a 9-6 Terrapin win).

• Goran Murray became the first Maryland freshman to start at close defense in a season opener since 2008 when Max Schmidt started in an 11-6 win at Georgetown.

Face-Off Firsts
• Junior Curtis Holmes’ 19-of-20 (.950) performance facing-off vs. Hartford in the 2012 season opener is just the fifth time since 2000 that a Maryland face-off man has won at least 90% of his draws with at least 10 attempts.

• Holmes joins Andy Claxton and Brian Haggerty as the only Terps with multiple games of 19 or more face-off wins. Claxton did it three times (27 at Towson in 1991, 21 vs. Duke in 1991 and 19 at Brown in 1991), while Haggerty did it twice (20 vs. Butler in 1998 and 19 vs. Virginia in 1998). Holmes had 20 wins vs. Georgetown last season to go along with his 19 vs. the Hawks, which makes him the only Terp to win 19 or more face-offs in different seasons.

• The last 90% performance was in 2008 when Bryn Holmes, Curtis’ older brother, won 9-of-10 face-offs at Mount St. Mary’s.

• The last time a Terp faced-off with a winning percentage above 90% was on March 21, 2006 when David Tamberrino won 12-of-13 in a 14-2 win over Dartmouth.

Best Face-Off Performances Since 2000
Curtis Holmes – 19/20 (.950) vs. Hartford 2/18/12
Brian Carroll – 12/13 (.923) at Delaware 3/17/01
Davin Tamberrino – 12/13 (.923) vs. Dartmouth 3/21/06
Jeremy Pastula – 11/12 (.917) at Towson 3/8/03
Bryn Holmes – 9/10 (.900) at Mount St. Mary’s 2/26/08
Bryn Holmes – 12/14 (.857) vs. Presbyterian 2/13/09
Brian Carroll – 11/13 (.846) vs. Mount St. Mary’s 2/26/02
Bryn Holmes – 11/13 (.846) vs. Air Force 2/14/09
Ryan Moran – 10/12 (.833) vs. Bucknell 3/11/03
Will Dalton – 18/22 (.818) vs. Vermont 2/20/07
Curtis Holmes – 17/21 (.810) vs. Detroit Mercy 2/19/11

Consecutive 10-Win Seasons
· The 11-9 victory over Duke on April 24, 2011 was the 10th of the year for Maryland, giving it nine straight seasons with double-digit wins. (Special thanks to Patrick Stevens of the D1Scourse.com).

· How does that stack up against the rest of the college lacrosse programs? Take a look at programs with at least five-straight 10-win seasons:
Maryland (9): 2011 (13-5), 2010 (12-4), 2009 (10-7), 2008 (10-6), 2007 (10-6), 2006 (12-5), 2005 (11-6), 2004 (13-3), 2003 (12-4)
Cornell (7): 2011 (12-3), 2010 (12-6), 2009 (11-3), 2008 (11-4), 2007 (15-1), 2006 (11-3), 2005 (11-3)
Virginia (7): 2011 (13-5), 2010 (16-2), 2009 (14-2), 2008 (14-4), 2007 (12-4), 2006 (17-0), 2005 (11-4)
Notre Dame (6): 2011 (11-3), 2010 (10-7), 2009 (15-1), 2008 (14-3), 2007 (11-4), 2006 (10-5)
Duke (5): 2011 (14-6), 2010 (16-4), 2009 (15-4), 2008 (18-2), 2007 ( 17-3)
Siena (5): 2011 (13-5), 2010 (12-5), 2009 (12-6), 2008 (10-6), 2007 (10-6)

The 700 Club
· Maryland’s 15-6 victory over Penn on April 14, 2009 was the program’s 700th victory in 84 seasons of varsity men’s lacrosse. The Terps join Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Navy and Army as the only programs with 700 or more Division I wins.

· Two things that make Maryland’s accomplishment all the more impressive is that the Terps reached the 700-win plateau in just their 84th season. Only Syracuse reached win No. 700 in as few seasons, but it took the Orange 53 more games than Maryland. In fact, Maryland needed only 940 games to reach 700 wins and only Johns Hopkins needed fewer games (932) to hit the historic number, but the Blue Jays did so in their 105th season.

Terps’ 87th Season Of Lacrosse
· The Terps boast an all-time record of 730-247-4 (.746), dating back to the first varsity team in 1924 (a team was not fielded in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II). Maryland has finished every one of its previous 85 seasons with a .500 or better record, including last season when the Terps went 10-6. The program reached the 700-win milestone with a 15-6 victory over Penn on April 14, 2009 at Ludwig Field.

· During the decade of the 2000s, Maryland went 111-49 for a .694 win percentage, making it the winningest decade in Terrapin lacrosse history. In the decade of the 1990s, Maryland posted a 95-47 record. The .669 winning percentage matched Maryland’s win percentage of the 1980s when the Terps went 83-41 and also compiled a .669 win percentage. So far, Maryland is 25-9 in the 2010′s for a .735 winning percentage.

A Family Affair
· Many school’s refer to their sports programs as families, but the Maryland men’s lacrosse program is truely a family affair. Since 2002, the Terps have had 13 sets of brothers, including three on this season’s roster, don the red and black together for at least one season.

Harry & Thomas Alford: 2004-05-06-07
Jake & Jesse Bernhardt: 2010-11-12
Justin & Owen Blye: 2009-10-11
Brian & Kevin Cooper: 2011-12
Billy & Bobby Gribbin: 2012
Brendan & Ian Healy: 2003-04-05
Bryn & Curtis Holmes: 2010
Bryn & Travis Holmes: 2007
Dan & Mike LaMonica: 2002
Chris & Willy Passavia: 2002-03
Brian & Michael Phipps: 2007
Max & Xander Ritz: 2005-06
Mark & Michael White: 2008-09-10-11