Towson (0-0) at Mount St. Mary's (0-0)
WHEN: Wed, Sept. 1, 2010, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Waldron, Family Stadium, Emmitsburg, Md.

SERIES INFORMATION: Towson leads 20-13-3
LAST MEETING: Towson (2-0) 9-1-07
FIRST MEETING: Towson (3-0) 11-7-53
LAST MOUNT WIN: (1-0) 9-9-00
IN EMMITSBURG: Towson leads 8-6-1 (first meeting at the Waldron Family Stadium)

opening kick... Wednesday's night season opener marks the 37th meeting in program history between Mount St. Mary's and Towson. The Tigers lead the series 20-13-3 dating back to the 1953 season. Towson won the 2007 season opener 2-0 and will make its first appearance at the Waldron Family Stadium and first trip to Emmitsburg since the 1992 campaign.

about the tigers... Towson opens up the season against the Mountaineers after posting a 7-10 overall record and 3-7 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Tigers return three of their four top scorers from 2009, including junior F Liam Maloney who posted 10 goals and four assists for 24 points. Senior M Marco Mangione ranked second on the squad with eight goals and four assists for 20 points while junior M Javier Bermudez-Roa was fourth with one tally and two assists for four points. Junior GK John Steele posted 47 saves, a 1.90 goals against average and a .635 save percentage last season.

last time we met... Twentieth-ranked Towson scored two second-half goals to defeat Mount St. Mary's 2-0 in the men's soccer season opener for both teams on Sept. 1, 2007. Chris Davis made eight saves for the Mount in his collegiate debut while Steve Walton and junior Vinnie Berry each recorded three shots. Kevin Ruck and Nino Mangione scored the two goals for the Tigers, and Xavier Otero and Tommy Appel-Schumacher each dished out an assist. Goalkeeper Billy Chiles turned away eight shots.

next on tap... The Mount returns to action at home against Radford on Saturday. The squad will have three-straight Saturday games at the Waldron Family Stadium.

for starters... Mount St. Mary's is 29-22-8 in the season opener all-time and 5-3-2 under head coach Rob Ryerson. The Mount defeated VMI for the second-straight season-opener to earn back-to-back inaugural wins since the 2002 and 2003 seasons. The four goals scored in the contest were the most in a season opener since the squad defeated St. Peter's 4-0 in 2000.

off on the right foot... The Mount has 26 non-losing seasons in program history. When the squad opens the season with a win, the Mountaineers have gone on to post a .500 record or better 20 times while twice Mount St. Mary's has started a season with a tie and went on to notch a .500 record or better.

lets get it started... Senior Scott Phinith has posted two goals and two assists in the last two season openers. The senior scored twice in a 3-0 season-opening win against VMI in 2008 and then dished out two assists in a 4-0 win against the Keydets last season in the opener. Senior Eric Detzel and Will Thomas both have a goal and an assist in the last two season openers while junior Ian Hendrie found the twine last season and junior Kyle Patrick has an assist in the inaugural game in his career.

preseason poll... The Mount St. Mary's men's soccer team has been picked fifth in the Northeast Conference (NEC) Preseason Coaches Poll. Monmouth, who claimed the last four league regular season titles and the 2009 NEC Tournament crown, has been unanimously selected as the preseason favorite in 2010. Quinnipiac, Fairleigh Dickinson and St. Francis (N.Y.) were picked 2-3-4 while the Mount, Sacred Heart, Saint Francis (Pa.), Long Island, Central Connecticut State, Robert Morris and Bryant rounded out the 11-team poll.

aye, aye captain... Seniors Chris Davis and Eric Detzel will serve as team captains for the 2010 campaign.

in the league: The Mount is 71-82-27 in Northeast Conference matches. The Mountaineers are 33-45-15 under head coach Rob Ryerson in the NEC and 6-2-2 in the conference opener, including back-to-back NEC opening wins in 2008 and 2009. The Mount is 10-8-1 in the last two seasons in the league.

wheeling and dealing... Junior Chris Wheeler has scored 20 goals in his first two seasons in Emmitsburg and now sits in fifth place in Division I program history for career goals. Next on the list are Mark Southern (21, 1994-97) and Brad Hiester (21, 1988-90) in third place. He also sits one tally shy of joining the program's all-time career goal list. The junior also sits in seventh place in points in Division I history with Hiester (48) and Dan Gaertner (48, 1993-96) next on the list. Wheeler tied the program's single-season record for goals in a season with 12 in his freshman year, including becoming the seventh player in Division I history to notch a hat trick when he found the twine against Robert Morris on Oct. 10, 2008.

eric in the middle... Senior Eric Detzel also is moving up on the program's Division I charts. The senior sits in seventh place with 14 goals in Mount Division I history with Don Barry (18, 1988-90) next on the list. Detzel also stands right behind teammate Chris Wheeler with 37 points and sits in 10th place with nine assists, right behind teammate Scott Phinith.

no fins to slow him down... Senior Scott Phinith sits in ninth place for assists in Mount Divisoion I history with 10 assists. Next on the list is former teammate Vinnie Berry (11, 2005-08) in eighth place and Kurt Borel (12, 2001-04) in seventh place. The senior has five goals and 10 assists for 20 points in his career.

the man protecting the pipes... Senior Chris Davis sits in fifth place for all-time minutes played (4565) at the Mount. Next on the list is Mark Murphy (4583) in fourth place. Davis is also fourth in career shutouts with 12 while Larry Howley (16, 1984-87) and Rob Ray (16, 1997-00) are tied for second on the all-time list. Davis recorded eight shutouts as a sophomore to notch the most shutouts in a campaign since 1999.

local rivalries... Mount St. Mary's will play four teams from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area this season. The squad will host Towson (Sept. 1), George Washington (Sept. 11) and UMBC (Sept. 18) and will travel to Howard (Sept. 7) this season.

new to the mountain... Head coach Rob Ryerson has added eight players to his 2010 roster. Freshmen Zoncher Dennis (Abijam, Ivory Coast), Jimmy Ockford (Yardley, Pa.), Connor Waraksa (Media, Pa.) and Patrick Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) were signed to National Letters of Intent while junior transfer Peter Steve (Dallas, Pa.) also signed a scholarship. Steve went to Cincinnati for two years, but did not play in a game with the Bearcats. Freshmen Steve Hamilton (Manchester, Md.), Mike Molloy (Baltimore, Md.) and sophomore Koudzo Komlan (Lome, Togo) also joined the team.

players from down under... Junior Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia), the first men's soccer player to hail from Australia, was joined by fellow countrymen Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) in 2008. Wheeler's brother Patrick Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) joined the team in 2010.

the family continues to grow... Head coach Rob Ryerseon has coached five of the eight brother combos in Mount men's soccer history. Freshmen Jimmy Ockford and Patrick Wheeler join the team this season to join their brothers sophomore Alex Ockford and junior Chris Wheeler. In addition, freshman Connor Waraksa becomes the third member of his family to play Division I athletics and the second at the Mount. Connor's sister, Breana, was a four-year letterwinner on the women's lacrosse team and still holds the single game and career record for assists.

home sweet home emmitsburg... Under head coach Rob Ryerson, Mount St. Mary's is 32-26-3 at home, including 4-2-1 in 2000 (Ryerson's first season) and 5-1 in 2003.

foreign flavor... Head coach Rob Ryerson has six international students on the team in 2010. Senior Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia) , junior Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) and sophomore Will Jagger (Crowsborough, England) return in 2010 while sophomore Koudzo Komlan (Lome, Togo) and freshmen Zoncher Dennis (Abijam, Ivory Coast) and Patrick Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) joins the fray this season.

waldron family stadium... Mount St. Mary's is 13-12-1 at the Waldron Family Stadium. The squad moved into the state-of-the-art 1,000-seat Waldron Family Stadium for a full season in 2007. The Mount played three games in the venue in 2006, posting a 2-1 record. The Mountaineers lost their inaugural match at the stadium to Monmouth 3-0 on Oct. 15, 2006 before ending the season with wins against Sacred Heart (2-1) and Northeast Conference Tournament bound Fairleigh Dickinson (1-0 2OT).

friday night lights... Mount St. Mary's played its first three night games at Waldron Family Stadium last season, posting a 2-1 mark. The Mount will host Towson (Sept. 1), Bryant (Oct. 22) and Robert Morris (Oct. 29) under the lights in 2010.

about the coach... Head coach Rob Ryerson is entering his 11th season at the helm of the men's soccer team at the Mount, posting a career record of 56-95-22. He has led the Mount to a 34-45-14 mark in NEC regular season games. Ryerson was named the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Mountaineers to a 9-10-1 overall mark and a 5-4 record in league play and the squad's first NEC Tournament appearance since 1999 in the 2008 campaign.