No. 23 Virginia Men's Soccer Battles No. 2 Maryland Friday Night

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Virginia men's soccer team returns home at 7 p.m. Friday for an ACC clash with No. 2 Maryland at Klöckner Stadium. The ACC's Regional Sports Networks will televise the match live.

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Comcast Sports Mid-Atlantic, Sun Sports, NESN and Fox Sports Prime Ticket all will show the contest live. Live statistics also will be available at VirginiaSports.com.

Ranked 23rd nationally by Soccer America, Virginia comes into the match with a 6-4-0 record, including a 2-1-0 mark in the ACC. Maryland is unbeaten at 11-0-1 and tops the ACC with a 3-0-0 record.
The match Friday pits two of the top offenses nationally. Maryland is ranked first nationally with 31 goals; UVa is tied for 18th with 20 scores. The match also features two of the top scorers nationally - UM's Casey Townsend, who is fourth nationally in goals, and UVa's Will Bates, who is fifth.

The Cavaliers are coming off their best performance of the year, a dominating 2-0 win at Clemson last Friday. Virginia limited Clemson to just two shots while thoroughly controlling possession; UVa out-shot Clemson, 15-2. Brian Span scored a goal and added an assist, while Ryan Zinkhan nabbed the game-winning score - his first goal as a Cavalier.

Bates leads the team with nine goals this year, which ranks third in the ACC. He trails Duke's Andrew Wenger (12 goals) and Townsend (11). With three assists this year, Bates owns 21 points, which also ranks third in the ACC (Wenger, 28, and Townsend, 21). Bates is 11th in the ACC in assists.
Bates also ranks among the national leaders in scoring (through games of Oct. 2). He is fifth nationally in total goals (9); UCF's McKauly Tulloch leads the country with a dozen goals.

The Terrapins are unbeaten with an 11-0-1 record entering play Friday. UM is ranked as high as second nationally, behind only Connecticut. Casey Townsend leads the team with 11 goals. The Terps also have been strong defensively, surrendering a league-low seven goals.

Maryland owns a 37-28-8 edge in the programs' all-time series, which dates to 1941. The teams have met five times in the last two seasons, with Maryland winning both matchups by 2-0 counts last season and UVa taking all three contests in 2009, including two in the postseason. The Cavaliers are 4-5-1 in their last 10 matches against Maryland.

Virginia returns home at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 11) when it entertains the Navy Midshipmen at Klöckner Stadium. UVa travels to Wake Forest next Friday (Oct. 14) in its next ACC action.