Well, TV or not, it's a Monday night game, so if they don't have lights, then it's a no-go at Nova's campus.
Opening night XI in a 4-1-2-3: Shealy; B. di Rosa, Bergmann, St. Martin, M. di Rosa; Richardson; Crognale, Brown; Herve, Matzelevich, Padilla
Terps take the opener 1-0 thanks to a 70th minute header off a corner from Malcolm Johnston. Not a whole lot in the way of attacking or high quality chances in either way, but Maryland gets it done.
That's a pretty experienced group given for a defending champ since most champs tend to lose a lot to graduation and players leaving early (which Maryland did). Three seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and two redshirt freshmen. That experience should take the Terps pretty far.
maybe, but they have lost tons of talent to the pros last year. For example, RCB Pines (HG DCU), GK Dayne St Clair (MLS 1R draft Minn), LB Gasper (MLS 1R draft Minn), DM Samuels (MLS 2R draft Houston), AM Sejdic (MLS 2R draft Montreal) and FWD Elney signed with NYRB II. MD lost both of their wide midfielders (some say wingers) to injuries. Bin is out for the year with an ACL. Herve left the USF match with a leg injury (I don't know how serious). ACL or Hamstring or a minor tweak. MD always has a deep team. I suspect that they'll struggle early in the season, get better later in the year. I don't expect them to repeat as national champions.
Two changes for the Labor Day XI vs. UVA: Justin Gielen for William James Herve (still out with leg injury) and Niklas Neumann between the sticks for Russell Shealy.
Akron is 0-3 against 3 pretty good opponents (Xavier, Stanford, Creighton). Most concerning is that Akron has given up 2 goals in each game. Akron @ MD is going to be on B10. On Monday, Akron travels to Pittsburgh televised on the ACC. This should be a good match.
Catching up a bit, Maryland now 3 and 2, with B!G play about to start ... Maryland 1-0 Akron - Matzelevich scored early and it stood up. Maryland 1-0 Villanova - Ben Di Rosa scored late. The Indiana posters got me wondering about fouls, so I took a look at the MD box scores: MD 1-0 USF [Fouls 10-16, yellow cards 1-2] MD 0-2 Virginia [15-14, 2-1] MD 2-3 UCLA [8-14, 2-2] MD 1-0 Akron [7-17, 1-3] MD 1-0 Villanova [8-19, 0-1] It looks as though in only the Virginia game we gave as good as we got, and in the other four games we were 'out-fouled' by a substantial margin.
XI for the B1G opener: Shealy; di Rosa, Bergmann, Antoine, di Rosa; Richardson, Kovacic, Padilla; Herve, Matzelevich, Johnston Herve's back! And first starts for Antoine and Johnston. Maybe the preferred XI is rounding into shape? Not sure if Neumann isn't fit after picking up the knock on Monday or if Shealy's just the pick today.
Tough loss at home against Northwestern on Friday. Back at it against perfect 7-0 St. John's, just underway, with an interesting look for a Sasho side - a 3-5-2. Neumann back in goal, the di Rosas being utilized as wingbacks with Bergmann anchoring the backline with St. Martin and Antoine flanking him. No Herve in the XI today - might just be due to the formation.
Herve limped off after 8' against NW grabbing his hamstring. I think he should be shut down for awhile. Crognale was not supposed to play against NW because of a calf injury, but came off the bench in the final minutes with MD down 1-0.
Pretty solid run over the last three. Road draw at Wisconsin a man down, then a pair of comfortable wins this week over Rutgers and Fullerton. Might edge back closer to the rankings at 6-3-1 (1-1-1). Big roadie on Friday at Sparty.
Bit of a weird result last night - Justin Gielen equalized in the 78th minute at Michigan State, then the game was abandoned as a draw after 90 minutes due to heavy rain rather than continuing into overtime.