The ACC Championship

I'm here, I'm here! I'm actually writing this opening paragraph two hours and fifteen minutes before game time. I'm sitting in my hotel room at the beautiful Red Roof Inn in Cary, NC as my broadcast colleague is in the shower prepping to deliver the best color commentary he can give. He's running through Casey Townsend and Jason Herrick's every move in his head, he'll be on his game and so will I. The 5 hour drive down here last night and the anticipation for the call of this Championship game is all I have needed to get pumped. So Crew member...get pumped!

Instead of fooling ourselves into thinking that I would update this blog daily (or even weekly) I've decided to update it when it counts. And there is no bigger game then this. When you begin a season, your goal is to win your conference, to be the best. In just a few short hours, the Maryland Terrapins will have a chance to do just that. They are one match away from winning the prestigious ACC Championship, something they have not done in six years. Can it happen? Will it happen? Yes and hopefully yes!

I was here for the quarterfinal matchup between Maryland and North Carolina and the Terps battled. Playing a team for the second time in five days, was not easy, but the Terps battled throughout (and without Matt Kassel) and certainly deserved to be victorious. I listened to Justin call the semi-final game and then I checked back and watch it on the ACC Select. The Terps...while they were good, they got a bit lucky. Chris Brown made an incredible save for BC and he played as strong as I've ever seen him play in goal. But thanks to an own goal, the Terrapins still found a way to advance to the ACC Championship for the seventh time in their illustrious history.

And in the six previous ACC Championship games, Maryland has faced the Virginia Cavaliers. But with the undefeated Demon Deacons in the tournament, there was no way that could continue right? As my favorite Kazakhstan ambassador would say...not so much. For the first time since LAST year's ACC Tournament, Wake Forest was on the losing end of the score. Virginia took down the Demon Deacons on a penalty kick in double overtime, sending the Cavaliers to the ACC Championship game to face a familiar foe in the Terps.

Many people call the Cavaliers the Terps biggest rival. Surely, there are those Blue Devil and Tar Heel creatures, but Virginia is closer than those North Carolinians. When this game kicks off, it will be the newest chapter in the Virginia/Maryland story. Earlier this season, when the Terrapins and Cavs faced off in Charlottesville on a spooky Halloween night, the Terrapins came away with a 2-1 victory, in a sloppy game which saw three yellow cards and three red cards. The game today will no doubt be less sloppy, as both these teams have really hit their strides. Maryland is perhaps the hottest team in the entire county, in the top 5 nationally and winners of ten straight games. Virginia, just beat the BEST team in all of college soccer (yeah I said it), and find themselves 1 win away from the title. It's going to be one heck of a game.

Maryland's Zac MacMath has been just phenomenal this season since becoming a starter. In postseason play, he has not allowed a goal and he really has solidified the goaltender position. All of last season and early on this season, the team had questions in goal. Not anymore, not with MacMath. The defense trusts him, which allows them to take more chances on both offense and defense. I expect Michael Marchiano to come up real big in this one as well. If Kassel can't go, Marchiano will get the start and I think play big dividends for the Terrapins. He is a senior leader, who hasn't had much of a chance to shine all year long because of injuries. But now, in the starting lineup, he provides a calming influence in the midfield and is someone that Terp players and fans alike are confident in.

Maryland is good folks, real good. This team very well could be going to the College Cup in Texas if things go right. If they play THEIR GAME they will be the ACC Champions, will play every game until the College Cup at home, and very well could be YOUR National Champions. Listen in at 1 and you could be a part of Terrapin history. I'm going to go eat my late night McDonalds now, it's been a long drive from College Park. Twice in three days, a five hour drive, it's tiring and makes you hungry ya know? Enjoy the game Gsuss listeners.

Until next time, That's a Rap!

~Sussman

Down To Death Valley...Well Not Me, but RGD and the Terps

So where the hell have I been? I sat in this very spot last week promising a new blog before the Wake Forest game, I guaranteed that I would scout the Demon Deacons and give you a fearless crew chief prediction! So now here we are, essentially a week and a half past that game on the way to Clemson and you have been given NOTHING! My loyal readers have been deprived of their WMUC blog cravings. Well fear no more, because your loyal (okay semi-loyal) crew chief has returned from the dead to provide you with the blog you have been begging for. In case you were wondering, I have been extremely backed up at life, with my internship and classes and other obligations taking up all my time. Every time I say I'm going to sit down and blog, I sit down and do something else…until now. Let's talk a little soccer shall we?

Last week in the thunder and lightening at Ludwig, Wake Forest came in and proved that they are the best team in the country. The Demon Deacons took the Terrapins absolute best shots in the first half. With both strikers scoring for Maryland, the Terps had gotten exactly what they wanted. They scored early (within the first five minutes) to get up 1-0 and then retaliated when Wake Forest took the lead and went up 2-1. Up twice on the #1 team in the country, you had to be stoked if you were a Terp or a Terp fan. However, Wake Forest battled back. There was never any fear or panic they just kept taking everything Maryland had to offer. A miscue toward the end of the first half, which featured a breakdown of the Maryland defense (especially by their star Omar Gonzalez) tied the game up at 2 a piece.

The second half of this game was ALL Wake Forest. Matt Kassel and Graham Zusi, the two inside midfielders for Maryland, whether injured or just ineffective, were helpless. Ike Opara, an All-ACC Freshman last season, was OUTSTANDING scoring a goal and playing incredible defense all night long. Wake scored two goals in that second half, Maryland barely had any opportunity (minus a goal from Forbes on a play he was clearly offside on) and Wake took the game and retained their number 1 ranking. Maryland's ranking did not drop too much after the loss, they dropped to #4 which seems about right. Wake Forest and Maryland are the class of the ACC and certainly two of the top teams in the nation. I know for sure that they will meet each other again, whether it is in the ACC Tournament or the College Cup. These two teams put on a wonderful performance all around and they deserve a chance to showcase their talents later on in the year.

Interesting note that I said on the broadcast, I wasn't too impressed with Will Swaim's performance in this game. While he was okay, I've seen better from him. I thought maybe one or two goals he could have stopped or at least been in better position for. By coincidence or not, Zac MacMath got the start against Binghamton on Tuesday in another rain dominated game. MacMath didn’t allow a goal as the Terps escaped a tough game against a good out of conference team, winning 1-0. After the game, Sasho said he is unsure of who will start at Clemson. If it’s MacMath we have a full blown goalie controversy on hand again, the same as the likes of the Holder/Swaim one of last year. While both goalies say they feed off the competition and are great friends on and off the field, you know they both want to start. Also, the team would rather have one goaltender leading the team. Each goaltender has different styles of leading and playing and the quicker this team can decide on a goalie, I feel like the quicker they will be more successful. Sasho would rather go with a two headed monster at goalie though, which I think will bring more rough patches to this team than smooth sailing.

Tonight, the Terps take the nine hour trip to Clemson. Clemson, while they aren't nearly as good as they have been in year's past, all ACC games are tough and Death Valley is certainly a tough place to play. Maryland is going to have to bring their best game in order to win and stay at #4. Who will start in goal? Which Omar Gonzalez will show up? Will Robert Gerard Dawson make it to Clemson to give you the best solo broadcast of All-Time?

Until next time…That’s a Rap!

~Sussman

Wake Fores....NO, I mean American!

I felt like it was a game day, so why not come out with a little blog action?

The game against Duke lived up to the hype in the first half with Matt Kassel's pinpoint accuracy of putting the corner kick right on Omar Gonzalez's head. After that Kassel and Gonzalez and the rest of the deadly defensive unit shut down Duke for the next 85 minutes and the Terps beat their arch rivals 1-0. When I said it lived up to the hype for a little while, I meant it, because when Mike Grella (Duke's most prolific scorer and all around good player) was thrown out of the game for his head butt on AJ, you felt like Duke just lost an edge. That wasn't the case.

In the second half, playing down a man, Duke stepped it up big time getting a couple of good scoring chances but Will Swaim stopped them dead in their tracks. Swaim has certainly come on as of late, and is solidifying himself as this team's starter.

I've also received word from a sorority/WMUC inside, that this year's men's team is spending some time out at the bars and with the lovely Kappa Deltas. Well I say GOOD FOR THEM! When you beat Duke, you deserve to hang out with hot girls and go to the bars (when you are over 21 of course). As long as they keep on winning, let them drink until they drop. Who says winning and soccer couldn't be fun? They says everyone needs some extracurricular activities right?

Anyway...Tonight's game against American is the definition of a trap game. The Terps are now ranked #2 in the country and have the game everyone is waiting to see this Friday, when the #1 Demon Deacons come to town. American isn't that bad of a team and if the Terrapins look ahead, they could be doomed tonight. They need to play their game, only think about tonight's game, and get through with a victory and get through healthy.

Friday's showdown is going to be one for the ages, 1 vs. 2, as Wake Forest is coming off an awesome road victory against UC Santa Barbara. But as someone covering the team, I don't want to look too far ahead either.

Let's get past American then talk about Wake. I'll be back later in the week to break down the battle of the best.

A Rivalry Renewed

So yeah, I have been sitting here for about a week now, trying to think of a better title then “Men’s Soccer Blog” for this blog. After much deliberation, I have come up with “Gsuss Talks”, the name of my old newspaper column back in high school. Now, while seemingly simple “Gsuss Talks” really is creative, as it is a take off of the brilliant Kanye West song, “Jesus Walks”. Jesus and Gsuss…it works right! Then you have talks and walks and really it all just makes sense. So now and forever, this blog will be known as Gsuss Talks!

Now that all of the administrative stuff is out of the way, you come here to hear about soccer not so much about a title. I began writing this blog up before the BC game, but with natural procrastination and other things in my busy schedule taking up my time, I have wound up writing it after two days of reflection.

Boston College came into College Park and YOUR Terps, absolutely showed that they are a force to be reckoned with this season. For most of the game, they dominated the playing field. Graham Zusi scored the only goal, but Maryland had many chances against a very solid Eagles team tonight. Boston College has beaten the snot out of Maryland the last couple of times they have played, so for Maryland to put one on the board early against BC (11th minute) was definitely a momentum builder. After Zusi scored, the rest of the team really did their jobs. Jeremy Hall and Casey Townsend each had phenomenal games and the Terps came away knowing that with a performance like this, they really could beat anyone.

I think it is very telling that Will Swaim was in goal for this one. Swaim had a miraculous save on Mike Konicoff in the second half and may have solidified his spot as Maryland’s official “starter”. I am a bit surprised with this decision from Sasho (who picked up his 217th win in the affair tying him with Doyle Royal for most in school history), as I thought Zac MacMath had done enough to wrestle the job away from Swaim. However, Swaim has certainly earned his chance to be the starter and I have no doubts it will be Will the Thrill in goal against the Blue Devils this Friday night. If its MacMath all normal logic goes out the window, but is that really a surprise when Sasho Cirovski is coaching your club?

Couple notes I want to mention about the Davidson game I broadcasted last weekend. Casey Townsend and Matt Kassel are GOOD and I mean really good. Townsend is lightening quick and is a threat to score every time he touches the ball and Kassel is ridiculously solid in the midfield. He is on target with seemingly every one of his kicks and his corner kick directly to Rodney Wallace’s head was just on the money. I’m not sure how long both of these men will stay in the program, but with them on the field this team is something to watch. I said it last week, I’m saying it again this is a team that can do some amazing things this season with the mix of the young guns and the veteran power.

As I said, coming up this Friday night the Duke Blue Devils return to College Park. Duke surprisingly is not as good as we have come accustomed to in recent years, but any Duke/Maryland game is a sight to be had. The Crew will be insane, the atmosphere off the charts, and I’m sure the game will live up to all Duke/Maryland hype.

I guess with Duke coming up, this is a good time to tell a story from my Crew days. So my freshman year, 2006, Duke came into town and of course “The Crew” did their research. They had acquired Duke goalkeeper and favorite target Justin Papadakis’s cell phone number. So along with the facebook information they had acquired about his girlfriend, favorite movies and music, they also now had his phone number. Now, being the shy person I am I hesitated for .000000000000001 seconds before calling it and, for the purpose that this is a family blog, ripped him apart. So Justin, as a complete unbiased member of the media right now, I’m sorry about that one. Want to come to College Park, I’ll buy you a drink? Yeah, I guess that won’t work because you have no interest in coming here and I’m not 21 yet (5 months!) Well hopefully we can put all that behind us, right Justin!?

So Duke vs. Maryland, Ludwig Field, 8:00 under the lights! Will the rivalry live up to all of the hype? Will the young guns continue to provide the spark that this team seems to thrive on? Will Justin Papadakis show up and heckle me from the stands?

Until next time…That’s a Rap!

~Sussman

Go Bradley?

By Robert Gerard Dawson

So I know my way around but I could probably use a GPS. The credentials of the other announcers on the crew that all of you will be listening to this season are astounding. Varsity high school soccer players, D-1 backups, intramural soccer champions this crew rocked in their playing days and will rock in the broadcast booth because they know their stuff. As for me, my credentials show that fifth grade house league was the most competitive level I played. My team won the house league championship that year because we were rescued by an immigrant from Bulgaria who scored two goals a game. So basically I had nothing to do with that. My blogs for the most part will probably be about outside tidbits about the happenings of this season that could be interesting to you as well.

Going along with outside tidbits, I worked in the clothing department at the University Book Center this summer. Folding, tagging, hanging, folding, stickering, folding, marking up, and marking down clothes. And because it’s a University store, 99.9% of the material on the floor has some sort of Maryland identification.

But not 100%

On a late July day, the store showed it was not perfect in Maryland apparel. I was folding away until I saw something amazing. I looked toward it, then turned around, and then turned back again. Could it have been? Could it really be? Is it?

The shirt HAD BRADLEY PRINTED ON IT!

Flashes of that infamous December 1st night entered my mind. Flashes of the final goal scored by Bradley which had up to three things wrong with it and Coach Sasho Cirovski running after the official and Assistant Russell Payne yelling in vain for some sort of video to be played to show that it was a handball, that it was offside, that it was something other than a goal.

I turned to my co-worker and asked “Is this some cruel joke?” Why is there a Bradley shirt in here? The co-worker said, “Oh it must have been a printing error. Sometimes they make a mistake. That’s why we have the shirt on clearance. It’s funny there was a kid named Bradley who walked in and almost bought the shirt.”

Unreal. How does a company screw that up? And how does Bradley-boy think that it is mildly acceptable to buy that shirt and wear it around on campus when Maryland lost in heartbreaking fashion to Bradley last season. But, you realize that we are human. You realize that the shirt company is run by humans and they make mistakes. And humans play soccer too. Maryland made miscues down the stretch, the officials made miscues down the stretch, everything came to a head at the same time, and Maryland lost the game. And it could easily happen again this season as well.

But I’ll say this. To have a ton of effort go to waste because of a fluke I feel has propelled this team to an intensity not seen since the 2005 team. Because they know they have to be that much more perfect, that much more disciplined so to make sure that flukey things never even come close to happening again. With nine starters returning who each had roles last year, with the addition of Jason Herrick coming back from injury, not to mention the number one recruiting class in the country, and an even more deadly focused team than last year, man that’s a lot going for them. The chance of mistake will still be there because were human, but I think the chance-of-fluke meter took a dive in the off-season. As Sasho said at Media Day, “the players realize that the margin for error is thin.” And he couldn’t be more right. I got a funny feeling about this team this year and I hope you do as well. You hope as a Terrapin fan that they will have a magic mix this season to score the go-ahead goal, to make the key stop, and to get a little luck here and there to make it all the way. You hope that the Book Center eliminates that Bradley shirt, and you hope Bradley-boy doesn’t wear that Bradley shirt on campus unless he wants to be socked by someone.

And you hope all these things happen because there are no immigrants from Bulgaria to come help out on this one.

So It Begins

So it begins...the return back to the top of the ACC, back to national prominence, back to the College Cup. The bar has been set, the goal is clear, and nothing short of a championship will satisfy this year’s Maryland Men’s Soccer team. The team is stacked with returning veterans like Graham Zusi, Omar Gonzalez, and Jeremy Hall, but also features the number 1 recruiting class in the country including Casey Townsend, Zac MacMath, and Alex Lee. The home opener is set for tomorrow night, 8:00 at Ludwig against Hartford. The crowd is sure to be pumped up, the Crew in full force and the team definitely should be ready to go all out.

So who am I and why the heck am I the crew chief for Men’s Soccer? I’ve been a huge soccer guy all of my life. Since I was 6, I played recreational and then travel soccer. So it sounds like I’m really good at what I do right? Well not so much…I was never good enough for high school soccer, much less playing in college. I played intramural soccer here at Maryland and we made it to the finals before losing. Stupid referees! I have been a soccer referee since I was 12, so when I complain about referees on our broadcasts I have every right to, because I know they would be wrong. I also was an assistant coach for my soccer’s travel soccer team for about five years. I’ve definitely been around the game for quite a long time. But that’s just me…our crew this year is phenomenal! Returning from last year’s crew are Justin Granit (my Co-Crew Chief), Kyle Cox, former collegiate player Nick Reifschneider (definitely butchered that last name) and of course our director of News at WMUC Robert Gerard Dawson. The newbies to our crew are Brookes Staley and John Talty. Both are extremely enthusiastic about the game and I couldn’t be happier with the crew I have this year, that will cover these Terps all the way to Frisco, Texas and the College Cup! Enough about us though…you want to know about your Terrapins.

Thus far on the year, the Terps are 1-1, defeating #14 UCLA 2-1 in double OT after Sir Rodney Wallace scored on a break away goal off of a pass from Drew Yates. Wallace put it in the back of the net giving the Terps their first win of the year. Interesting to note, in goal was Will Swaim, last year’s majority starter. As many of you know, Swaim and freshman stud Zac MacMath are having the same battle that Swaim and Thorne Holder did last year. Well Holder is gone, but the more athletic and better MacMath has taken his place. Sasho has refused to name a starter as of yet, but promises to do so in the coming weeks. No word on who is starting in goal in the home opener on Friday. The guess here though it will be Will Swaim.

The second game of the year also took place on west coast, but didn’t have the same result for the Terrapins. After a wonderful first half, in which the Terps dominated the action outshooting California 8-3, they wound up falling 1-0. MacMath started that one and put on a wonderful performance, however, the Terrapins just couldn’t find a way to put it in the back of the net. Also of note in that game, Casey Townsend another one of Sasho’s prized recruits, was injured in the first half and did not return. Jason Herrick also didn’t play in that game, giving more time to freshmen Matt Kassel and Alex Lee. It will be interesting to see if the injuries to Townsend and Herrick affect their playing time in this weekend’s two home games against Hartford and than Davidson.

Looking into the future a little bit, #2 Boston College and #1 Wake Forest are both coming to Ludwig field, in what should be two of the best games in all of college soccer. What a year the Terps could put on for us!

As I stated in my phenomenal opening…anything but a trip to the College Cup, this team would deem as a failure. After the heartbreaking loss to Bradley (which Rob Gerard Dawson will blog about immediately after this post hits the press), the Terrapins are determined to get back to glory road. Can Will Swaim bounce back after the Bradley game and will he be the starter all year long? What will Graham Zusi do in his swan song season? Will the freshman class live up to the hype?

Until next time…That’s a Rap!

~Sussman

Welcome

Welcome to WMUC Sports 2008 coverage of #8 ranked Maryland Men's Soccer!

Gregg Sussman, Justin Granit and crew will be here from the opening kickoff all the way through the NCAA tournament bringing you in-depth coverage of the Terps. Be sure to check in for game updates as the team heads out to California in advance of the first broadcast September 5th against Hartford at Ludwig Field!