Nov. 2, 2009

• Gametracker | Photo Gallery vs. Holy Cross

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's soccer will face its toughest challenge of the season on Tuesday night, as it heads to College Park to face the defending National Champion and No. 6-ranked Maryland Terrapins, beginning at 7:30 pm at Ludwig Field. The Mids enter the contest with an 8-9-0 record, while Maryland is 10-4-2 overall.

Navy has lost four straight games by shutout and is looking to turn it around against a team that is on a two-game winless streak with a tie against Virginia and a loss at Wake Forest. Prior to the current slide, the Terrapins had won five games in a row. Maryland is 8-1-1 at raucous Ludwig Field, but just 2-3-1 away from College Park.

After winning three games in a row over Loyola (Md.), Lehigh and Howard on Oct. 6-14, the Mids have been shut out in four straight games by American, Duke, Holy Cross and Colgate. The Mids have been shut out nine times this year, posting an 0-9-0 record when they fail to score. However, when Navy scores at least one goal in a game, the Mids are 8-0-0. Since the start of last year, Navy has been blanked 20 times in its 35 games.

Two players, senior Mark Garcia and freshman Michael Rakoczy, lead a balanced Navy attack with two goals and four assists each for eight points. Garcia currently has 13 career assists to rank tied for ninth on the Navy career assists list. Sophomore Wes Powell has added seven points (2 g, 3 a), while freshmen Michael Uyehara and Eric Wootten have five points (2 g, 1 a) each. In all, 12 players have scored Navy's 17 goals, and no player has more than two goals this year. In addition, seven different players have netted Navy's eight game-winning goals. Uyehara is the only player with multiple game-winning tallies.

Defensively, Tyler Bristol has seen all but 193 minutes in goal, registering a 1.51 GAA and a .667 save percentage. He has made 46 saves while posting three shutouts on the season. Junior Will Craven earned the start against Holy Cross, then saw 20 minutes of action against Colgate last Friday night. Craven owns a 0.47 GAA with an .857 save percentage in 193 minutes of play.

The Mids are getting outscored, 24-17, as a team and outshot, 201-184 (11.8 to 10.8 per game). Navy has done a remarkable job of playing without fouling, recording just 146 fouls with just five yellow cards so far this year. Foes have committed 189 fouls and have had 12 yellow cards issued against them.

The Mids are out of Patriot League Tournament consideration, but could still finish as high as tied for fourth in the league with a win and some help next Saturday at Lafayette. Despite outplaying their foes in most of the league games, Navy has managed just two wins in its six league games so far this year. Nonetheless, Brandt is pleased with the way the team in playing soccer.

"We just have to learn how to finish our chances and capitalize on our opportunities. I thought we had great chances on Friday and had nothing to show for it. It's obviously frustrating, but I really like the soccer we are playing," said Brandt on Friday after the loss to Colgate. "We as a program just need to learn how to win. We are doing the things we want to do, but the bottom line is you have to score, and we aren't doing that."

Maryland enters the contest with a 10-4-2 mark and will play a pair of non-conference games to close out its regular season. Besides Tuesday's game with Navy, the Terrapins will host the College of Charleston on Friday night.

Jason Herrick is the only Maryland player in double-figure scoring with 17 points (8 g, 1 a). Drew Yates (4 g) and Matt Kassel (1 g, 6 a) have each contributed eight points on the season. Casey Townsend and Kevin Tangney have seven points each on three goals and one assist.

In goal, Zac MacMath has a 0.83 GAA with a .760 save percentage in 1307 minutes of action.

As a team, Maryland is outscoring its foes, 23-12, including 13-5 in the first half. The Terps are outshooting foes, 275-146 (17.2 to 9.1 per game) and have drawn 101 corner kicks to 60 for their foes.

This will be the first meeting between the teams since the 1987 season, and Maryland owns a slim 15-12-0 advantage, including a 6-1-1 lead in the last eight meetings dating back to the 1980 season. The team have one common foe in Duke. The Mids lost to Duke, 3-0, on Oct. 20, while Maryland fell to the Blue Devils, 2-0, on Oct. 2.

It will also mark the sixth time in school history that Navy will face off against the defending NCAA Champion, and the first time since the 2001 season, when 2000 NCAA Champion North Carolina defeated Navy, 6-1. Navy is 2-3-1 all-time against the defending champion, including 0-0-1 against Maryland. The Mids and Terps faced off in 1969, one year after Maryland won the 1968 title. The other times came against West Chester (1962), Saint Louis (1963 and 1964) and Virginia (1995).

# GO NAVY #