Terrapin Title Tracker

This week was a mixed bag. Men's Soccer played well but continued to have trouble scoring against Big Ten opponents. Field Hockey came out with a statement win against Big Ten rival Northwestern at home in their Big Ten opener. Volleyball and Women's Soccer struggled. While Volleyball already knows that they are in for a very long season, Women's Soccer does not want a repeat of last season where they struggled to finish and missed out on the Big Ten tournament.

Men's Soccer

Maryland pitched their third straight shutout and Cody Niedermeier has only allowed one goal this season. The issue seems to be scoring goals in Big Ten play. Maryland can't rely on their defense alone to win games. The Terps have tough tests this week when they take on Georgetown and Wisconsin on the road.

Record this week: 1-0-1 (1-0 win against Navy on Monday and a 0-0 draw at Michigan State on Friday).

Record this season: 3-1-3 (0-0-2).

Grade for the week: B+. A nice win against local rival Navy helps the cause. East Lansing is not an easy place to play but Maryland will have to figure out ways to score against very good teams if they want to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament this year.

Title chances: 5. The Terps have the best defense in the Big Ten. If they can score some timely goals, they will win the conference.

Field Hockey

Field Hockey swept both of their home games this week, including a huge win against Northwestern in their Big Ten opener. Northwestern beat them in Evanston last year and then again in the Big Ten tournament final. This is a confidence-boosting win for the Terrapins.

Record this week: 2-0. (3-2 win against Northwestern on Friday and a 5-2 win over New Hampshire on Sunday)

Record this season: 5-3 (1-0).

Grade for the week: A+. Beating Northwestern for the first time in their last three tries is a big deal and this is Maryland's first win against a ranked team this season.

Title chances: 5. Northwestern was the biggest obstacle standing in Maryland's way of repeating as Big Ten champs. Now the Terps own the head-to-head tiebreaker and should be able to beat their other Big Ten foes.

Volleyball

Maryland got beat as expected against some of the country's top competition in Norman. Health continues to be an issue for this team and that will be the key factor in determining if they will win any matches in Big Ten play this season. The Terps open up Big Ten play at home against top-10 Illinois.

Record this week: 0-3 (3-0 loss to Washington on Thursday, 3-1 loss to Oklahoma and 3-0 loss to USC on Friday).

Record this season: 10-4 (0-0).

Grade for the week: D. There were a few sets where Maryland showed a lot of heart. They took a set from Oklahoma and almost took a set from top-10 Washington but couldn't finish it off.

Title chances: 0. This team is nowhere near good enough to compete in the Big Ten right now.

Women's Soccer

The scoring problem that plagued Maryland last year seems to be rearing its ugly head once again. The Terps got scored on two minutes in and couldn't tie it up despite six corners and numerous shots. If you hadn't been looking at the date, you could have sworn it was last season. This was a very good Rutgers team but in the Big Ten, you have to defend home field in order to have a shot at making the Big Ten (much less the NCAA) tournament.

Record this week: 0-1 (1-0 loss to Rutgers on Friday).

Record this season: 5-4 (0-1-0).

Grade for the week: D. The Terps allowed a goal two minutes into the game and couldn't find the equalizer in their Big Ten opener against ranked Rutgers.

Title chances: 0. I don't think Maryland has what it takes to knock off the top teams in the conference.