May 9, 2003

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland men's soccer team held its annual soccer banquet on April 26 to celebrate 2002's successes on the pitch. With culmination of spring practices, the annual awards were given out at the banquet, which included the Most Valuable Offensive and Defensive awards, as well as the John Carlson and Peter Lowery Awards.

The Terps had a lot to celebrate this year. Coming off a program-record for wins in a season, Maryland won the 2002 ACC championship and took its second trip in five years to the College Cup semifinals.

This year, three Terrapins received Most Valuable Player (Offense) honors: Sumed Ibrahim (Tamale, Ghana), Domenic Mediate (Southlake, Texas), and Abe Thompson (Fairfax Station, Va.). The trio split the award after passing scoring duties from Sumed's dominance in the beginning of the season to Thompson's end-of-season and ACC tournament heroics to Mediate's outstanding run in the NCAA tournament, scoring the gamewinner in the Terps' first three NCAA games and netting four of the first five tournament goals.

"Our attack was so well balanced that we had three different players have a large impact during the season," said head coach Sasho Cirovski. "All three played a pivotal role in us having the most productive offensive output in 40 years."

A tri-captain, Thompson finished the season leading the Terps with 14 goals and eight assists and set or tied three ACC tournament marks with his exceptional weekend. Mediate and his four-goal NCAA performance were one goal behind Thompson with season totals of 13 goals and five assists. Sumed, an NSCAA first team All-American, was third on the scoring list with eight goals and six assists.

The Most Valuable Player (Defensive) was also a three-way split this year with Clarence Goodson (Springfield, Va.), goalkeeper Noah Palmer (Williamsburg, Va.), and tri-captain Seth Stammler (Gahanna, Ohio) sharing the accolade. Goodson had an outstanding season, teaming with all-ACC centerback Stammler to earn the Terps 13 shutouts, a new school record. Palmer posted a 0.80 goals against average this season, the lowest of any Terp goalie since 1986.

"On the defensive end, Noah, Seth and Clarence were stalwarts throughout the season, each respectively for his consistency, but also for making big plays to win games," commented Cirovski.

Tri-captain Scott Buete (Bowie, Md.) took home the John Carlson Award presented to the most valuable team member. Buete, a third-team NSCAA All-American, finished the season with two goals, eight assists and countless irreplaceable contributions on the field and off. According to Cirovski, "Scottie is the engine and the heartbeat of out team. He typified our commitment to all aspects of the game and his warrior mentality combined with his skillful play translates positively to the rest of the team."

Stammler also left the annual banquet with the Peter Lowery Award, presented to the team member who exemplifies academic excellence, leadership, and distinguished citizenship on campus. Stammler was a third-team Verizon Academic All-American this season and carries a 3.9 cumulative grade point average in finance and marketing. He posted a perfect 4.0 in his double major this past fall.

This spring, the much-experienced Terps finished with an unblemished record. Maryland began by squaring off with split squads against the Richmond Kickers, and ending the day with a 2-2 tie against the first team and a 2-1 win over the reserves. Former Terp assistant coach Jeff Rohrman's Wisconsin Badgers visited Ludwig Field next, and took home a 2-0 loss to the Terps before Maryland downed George Washington (4-0) and Old Dominion (1-0) on the same day. The Terps beat ACC foe Virginia 3-0 and finished the spring slate with a 1-0 win over Towson.

"It was a very unusual spring in that we had everybody back and could really focus on some tactical improvements as well as the usual physical and technical improvement," said Cirvoski. "Every player had the opportunity to play in at least three full games or more and as a result, we had great individual and team development. There was significant growth in all areas and we will undoubtedly reap the benefits of a very productive spring during the 2003 season."

Maryland begins the 2003 season with an exhibition game against D.C. United on August 20 at 7 p.m. at Ludwig Field.