Nation's best duos face off in semifinal match

CARSON, Calif. -- When the Missouri Athletic Club selected the 15 best players in the country, only three teams were fortunate enough to have two players crack that list.\nToday, two of those three teams will battle for a right to play in Sunday's National Championship, and the battle between the Hermann Trophy candidates will take center stage.\n"It's a great, great match up," said Maryland Coach Sasho Cirovski. "You've got two Hermann Trophy candidates in the back line for IU, and two Hermann Trophy candidates in the front line for Maryland -- something's got to give."\nNo. 3 seeded Maryland's forwards Jason Garey and Abe Thompson have accounted for 53 percent of the Terapins' goals this season, while IU senior Danny O'Rourke and junior Drew Moor have anchored a defense that ranks sixth in the nation in goals against.\n"With two forwards that play so organized we just have to stay organized ourselves," Moor said. "Going with three in the back is tough to do sometimes, but we have Danny back there helping us out."\nTulsa's Ryan Pore and Michigan's Knox Cameron rank among the top scoring threats in the country, but both were kept in check by the IU defense. \nMichigan and Tulsa were just two steps among the Hoosier's three straight tourney shutouts. Nonetheadfless, Maryland's duo still ranks above any seen this season, IU coach Mike Freitag said.\nMaryland's Thompson was actually recruited by the Hoosiers before he decided to become a Terapin. Freitag described him as a big, strong force -- "a handfull."\nThough Thompson stands as the senior leader and co-captain, Garey has put up the bigger numbers. 21 goals, nine assists and 51 total points places Garey as one of the statistical leaders of the 2004 soccer season, or a "force to be reckoned with," Freitag said.\nHis output landed him on the All-ACC squad along with his counterpart Thompson.\n"I think it's going to be a battle tomorrow," O'Rourke said. "We watched a bunch of film ... and they don't really work the ball, they try to get it up to their forwards as quickly as possible."\nIU's defense has certainly heard its fair share of praise and recognition from around the country, but two more stellar performances are still needed.\n"If we can cut off those two forwards, like we did with (Todd) Goddard and Pore of Tulsa, I think we'll be fine."\n-- Contact Sports Editor Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.