Maryland Heads North to Finish Regular Season

The Maryland Terrapins (10-3, 1-2 ACC) are going to Manhasset, NY to take on Colgate University (3-9, 2-4 Patriot League) for their final regular season game...the home town of All-American Ryan Young.

On paper, this match-up should favor the Terps in almost every facet of the game. The Raiders' offense puts up 8.75 goals a game. #26 Ben McCabe leads the Raiders with 32 points on the season (24G, 8A). #15 Peter Baum has scored 27 goals this season, a team-high, and has just a single assist for 28 points. All in all, there are 5 players on Colgate who have double digit point values. #13 Patrick Campbell leads the team in assists with 12 helpers, along with his 11 goals.

Conversely, Maryland's trio of juniors on attack all have at least 14 assists this season, including Young's 26 feeds. 10 Terps have 10 or more points on the season. Even defender and team captain Brian Farrell has put up double digit points in 2010. That has propelled Maryland's offense to new heights. The Terrapins put up 11.31 goals per game.

On defense, Colgate allows 9 goals a game, one of the reasons for their losing record. #1 Jared Madison has started 9 of the games in goal for the Raiders. He has made 95 saves and sports a 8.57 GAA. #38 Tim Harrington has started the other 3 games and seen action in 6 on the season. He has made 32 saves in 2010 and gives up 10.54 goals per game.

Despite the struggles, #43 Jim Carroll has won almost 60% of his face-offs this year. Carroll has won 121 of his 205 face-offs, better than Bryn Holmes or Jake Bernhardt. We might even see Curtis Holmes take some face-offs in this contest. Curtis played a fair amount in the rout against Fairfield last Saturday...the 17-4 drubbing propelled Maryland into the #2 spot in the RPI rankings.

The Raiders take care of the ball, giving up the ball fewer times a game than their opponent. For ground balls, they have a 319-282 advantage. Their Man-Up unit has converted on just 10 of 30 chances this year. That number does look much lower than Maryland's .548 conversion rate, which still leads the nation, but most teams are in the same position.

I would expect to see Coach Dave Cottle go to his bench fairly early, similar to last week. Maryland shouldn't overlook their Patriot League opponent. If they can handle their business, there is a chance they earn the #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Maryland has an extremely deep team and there is no point in risking any unnecessary injury the week before UMD makes another run at the national championship.

Again, wmucsports.com won't be able to travel up to New York for the game, but the first round game, which will be at home in Byrd Stadium, your #1 Maryland Student Radio Station will be on the call. We will be following the team for each post season game. Go Terps!