Townsend was named an NSCAA Second Team All-American and a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist this season while garnering first team All-ACC honors for the second straight year. The Traverse City, Mich., product racked up 17 goals as a captain for the Terps.

Townsend, a four-year starter, is tied for third on Maryland’s all-time scoring list with 43 goals and is also tied for sixth in Maryland single-season scoring with 17 in 2011.

“We couldn’t be more proud of Casey today,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “After being such a workhorse for our program the last four years, we can’t wait to see Casey flourish as he takes the next step in his professional career. I am positive I speak for all of Terrapin Nation when I say we wish Casey nothing but the absolute best in the MLS.”

Townsend,a forward from Traverse City, Mich., was named a second-team selection. The MAC MAC Hermann Trophy recorded first team All-ACC honors for the second straight year as one of the nation’s top goal-scorers in 2011. The captain racked up 17 goals for the Terps.

Stertzer had a breakout campaign this season en route to picking up third team All-America honors. The Oakton, Va., native boasted an incredible .677 shots on goal percentage and a .452 shot percentage while tallying a career-high 14 goals in 2011. 

But the better team won tonight. Louisville had many stronger opportunities and despite some great saves from Maryland’s goalie, they were able to dent the nets 4 times led by Colin Rolfe.

Disappointing yes, disastrous not even a little bit. Maryland is able to think every year of potentially winning the title. Playing in the ACC is a tough enough task.

Casey Townsend tied the game at 1 and just missed several other chances. He is headed to the next level. Remember what I am about to say. Casey just might be the next Landon Donovan. He is a supreme talent and will certainly one day be in the Maryland Hall of Fame.

The loss of defender Alex Lee could certainly have been the leading cause of defeat for Maryland. McDonough’s Marquez Fernandez got he start tonight but had to leave the game early due to injury.

Sasho commented post game: On Louisville:
“I thought they were a highly motivated team and I think the right team won tonight.”
“We ran into a team that was the preseason favorite for a reason. They have a lot of quality, a lot of maturity. They’re physically strong and skillful. They’re much better than their seed, and much better than their record.” On Maryland:
“I feel terrible for our guys because I think they have played some great soccer this season, some of the best soccer in years here. Unfortunately we could not put together a defensive performance worthy of advancing out of this round against a very good team.”

Senior Casey Townsend tallied a hat trick as No. 5 seed Maryland scored three second half goals to defeat West Virginia 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship.

The Terps’ (14-3-3) recent offensive woes were all but an afterthought as they outshot West Virginia (11-8-1) 19-5 to advance to the third round for the 10th consecutive season.

After a shaky start that began with two early corner kicks from the Mountaineers, the Terps settled in and jumped on the away side with a strike in the 20th minute.

As the second half commenced, Sunny Jane took over with a slick combination of speed and foot skills throughout the offensive third.

Jane’s elusiveness paid off in the 60th minute when he played a nifty back heal along the flank to Jereme Raley. Raley collected the pass and played a low ball across the box to Townsend for his second goal of the match.

Maryland struck again just one minute later when Jane played a beautiful low ball across the Mountaineer goal line. Jordan Cyrus easily tapped home the cross for his first career goal to put the Terps ahead 3-0.

“It feels good to win again,” head coach Sasho Cirovski, who’s squad was 0-2-2 in its last four matches heading into the tournament, said. “We had a great week of practice…the best one since preseason. I expected us to be very good tonight and we were. Clearly it was one of the most complete performances of the season. We know that when we are sharp, we are going to be as good as anybody. Tonight we did all the little things right.

“West Virginia is a very difficult team to play against. To have a performance like that against a high quality team is a credit to our players.”

Maryland will play the winner of No. 12 Louisville and Bradley next Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at Ludwig Field in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Casey Townsend has been tabbed the NSCAA and Soccer AmericaNational Player of the Week after leading No. 2 Maryland to wins against Charlotte and Creighton last week.

Playing in front of nearly 5,700 fans at Ludwig Field, the senior MAC Hermann Trophy candidate provided the Terps with the game-winner in the 14th minute against Creighton to spark Maryland to its 10th win in 2011. It was the first goal the Jays had surrendered this season.

First comment is that Casey Townsend is just a flat out goal scoring machine. Last night he had 3 goals and could have possibly had 6. He is a magician with the ball and I promise you this he will be a USA World Cup player.

The UMBC faithful and team were electric and never let up even when trailing by 3-1 with 9 minutes left. Apparently the Terps thought the game was in hand but Sr Sean Rothe (Archbishop Curley) had other ideas. In a 2 minute stretch , he scored twice to knot the game at 3.

The first 10 minute OT was pretty uneventful until the Terps were fouled in the penalty area with seconds left.  John Stetzer fired a bullet penalty shot but UMBC goalie Dan Louisignau made an incredible save to send the game into double OT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaYT5wB0eBU

At the beginning of OT 2 UMBC missed a chance to secure victory with a point blank shot and then an empty net follow up that was kicked high. A few seconds later Stetzer redeemed himself by heading in a pass from Taylor Kemp to seal the victory.

Carolina lost to Virginia Tech Saturday which paved the way to the #1 Ranking.

Sasho commented after the game: “I think it was a very exciting college soccer game, I wanted to bring our team into a hornet’s nest…to have the largest crowd in their program’s history and a very good team pushing us. The second half, we came out and played Maryland soccer but we didn’t manage the last 10 minutes well.

“I give our guys credit. We came back. We calmed down. We showed great resilience and great grit. The reason I have John Stertzer take penalties is because he has the courage and strength to come back from that. And he certainly came back with a great goal.”

Maryland returns home to put their #1 status on the line against NC State Friday night at Ludwig Field.

Sophomores Patrick Mullins and John Stertzer opened the scoring assault four minutes apart and senior Casey Townsend capped the night off with a header in the 76th minute. Senior goalkeeper Will Swaim picked up his sixth career shutout in his first start since 2009.