After falling in its last match to American, Maryland women’s soccer looks to bounce back on Sunday.

Maryland (1-1-1) will face James Madison (1-1-1) in the first half of a men’s and women’s soccer doubleheader at Ludwig Field.

Kick-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the match will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.

James Madison Dukes (1-1-1, 0-0-0 Sun Belt Conference)

2023 record: 9-5-8, 4-1-5 Sun Belt Conference

The Dukes head into the match off a 3-3 draw with La Salle at home on Thursday. Despite having the same record as the Terps, James Madison had a relatively stronger start to the season, scoring three goals in both its season opener and its most recent match. However, it lost 2-0 to Virginia Tech in its second match. The Dukes also fared much better in 2023, winning nine matches compared to Maryland’s three.

Players to watch

Ariana Reyes, redshirt junior forward/midfielder, No. 22 — Reyes leads James Madison this season with two goals and two assists. Reyes has a perfect shooting percentage and has already scored a game-winner. She’s taken a huge step this season after recroding one goal and no assists in 2023.

Shea Collins, senior forward/defender, No. 2 — Collins has been a strong force for James Madison early on, notching goal and two assists thus far. Last season, Collins had three goals and five assists in 22 games and 19 starts.

Sofia DeCerb, redshirt freshman goalkeeper, No. 21 — DeCerb is getting her first taste of collegiate soccer as James Madison’s goalkeeper in 2024. Through three games, she has allowed five goals for a 1.67 goals against average. DeCerb has made 14 saves this season on a 73.7% save percentage.

Strength

Goals. James Madison is averaging two goals per game this season. The Dukes have also outscored their opponents six to five. In 2023, the Dukes scored 29 goals, which was 10 more than the 19 scored by their opponents.

Weakness

Shots. The Dukes have been outshot 39 to 26 by opponents thus far in 2024. Opponents have also had 19 shots on goal compared to James Madison’s 10. James Madison’s shots on goal percentage is 38.5% compared to its opponent’s 48.7%.

Three things to watch

1. Can the Terps bounce back? On Thursday night, a sign of last year’s squad creeped back into fruition as the Terps went scoreless against American. After scoring two goals in each of their first two games, the Terps were not sound offensively.

After Thursday’s game, Maryland head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer said, “I know that we have goal scorers. Today just wasn’t our night.”

2. Men’s and women’s doubleheader. Maryland men’s and women’s soccer will both play home games at Ludwig Field on Sunday. The women’s soccer game against James Madison will start at 5 p.m. and the men’s game against Georgetown will follow at 7:45 p.m.

3. Who will step up offensively? Maryland is looking for someone to take the lead and step up offensively in 2024. There are a few players on the brink of having productive seasons, including Ava Morales, Kennedy Bell and Kelsey Smith. The Terps will hope for one of those players to take the lead and be a primary scorer this season.

A new summer nutrition program that one advocate called a “game-changer” reached 586,734 children this summer, 43,000 more than state officials had expected, according to recent numbers from the Maryland Department of Human Services.

But officials said there is still time to sign up for the program, and were encouraging families to do so before the Aug. 31 deadline, in order to get $120 per child for grocery assistance.

“Marylanders want to help fight childhood hunger,” Maryland Human Services Secretary Rafael J. Lopez said in a written statement. “Our Maryland SUN Bucks program represents the single largest investment Maryland has seen to help feed our children. We invite every eligible Maryland family to apply before August 31, 2024, to help families buy groceries this summer.”

Because Aug. 31 falls on a Saturday, the department said families will only have until 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, to submit their applications.

The federally funded program is aimed at closing the so-called summer hunger gap, when schools that provide free or low-cost meals to many children are closed. Under the Sun Bucks program, low-income and foster families can get $120 per child to help pay for the cost of groceries over the summer.

Ayesha Holmes, director of No Kid Hungry Maryland, says Sun Bucks has been a “game changer” for families in the state, and she wants to make sure all eligible families have an opportunity to get the Sun Bucks financial support before time runs out at the end of the month.

“Families are more hungry during the summer than the school year, because children have access to school meals and during the summer those meals are not available,” Holmes said. “So, this is an opportunity to make up that grocery budget, in a way that does not put so much strain on them.”

Just under 56% of the 893,241 student in Maryland public schools were on a free or reduced-price lunch program during the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the Maryland State Department of Education.

The issue of a summer hunger gap is not unique to Maryland.

‘Summer hunger gap’ comes with extra challenge of distance in rural counties

The SUN Bucks program, also referred as the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program, is one tool states can use to bridge the gap.

Maryland is one of 37 states and the District of Columbia that opted into the new program for summer 2024, along with five territories and the Cherokee and Chickasaw tribes. The program is run by the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service.

Holmes said that the Sun Bucks, in conjunction with other state programs and non-profit efforts to feed kids over the summer, “really helps to close that gap in the summer time.”

When Sun Bucks launched in June, Maryland officials anticipated the program would distribute about $60 million in federal funds to help 543,000 kids across the state. But as of this month, a little more than $71 million had been handed out to 586,734 children in the state, according to Department of Human Services, with the possibility of more families being added.

“Our original estimates were based on federal data. We are delighted that we are serving 586,734 children,” according to a statement from the department.

“We requested and were approved by the federal government for a total estimated direct federal benefits to families of $71.04 million. This increased federal investment comes at no additional cost to Maryland,” the statement said.  “At the end of the summer, we will have final numbers.”

The program has cost the state about $5.8 million to implement, according to the department, but all the benefits payments come directly from the federal government.

About 90% of eligible Maryland families were automatically enrolled in Sun Bucks because they were alreeady in other benefits programs, like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), free or  reduced-priced school meal programs, or temporary cash assistance. For families already on SNAP, the summer grocery funds are loaded onto their electronic benefits cards for that program.

“What we want to make sure is that, they’re able to get to the grocery store and stretch their own dollar,” Holmes said. “And it provides families directly on a debit card that they can use at the grocery store, or even farmers markets and local markets that accept them.”

Families who are not enrolled in those program can still apply for Sun Bucks if they meet the income qualifications at the Department of Human Services website.

“So it’s totally worth it, and even if people miss the deadline for this year, they’re just enrolled for next year. So go ahead and get it done,” Holmes said.

A Maryland police officer was convicted on Friday of charges that he joined a mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and hurled a smoke bomb and other objects at police officers guarding a tunnel entrance.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden heard two days of trial testimony without a jury this week before he found Montgomery County Police Officer Justin Lee guilty of two felonies and three misdemeanors. The judge, who also acquitted Lee of two other misdemeanors, is scheduled to sentence him on Nov. 22.

Lee, 26, ignited and threw a smoke bomb into the tunnel entrance on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, where a mob of rioters attacked a group of outnumbered police officers. The device struck a police officer’s riot shield and filled the mouth of the tunnel with a large plume of smoke, prosecutors said.

“No police officer should have to endure these attacks and provocations,” McFadden said.

Lee, who remains free until his sentencing, didn’t show any obvious reaction as the judge read aloud his verdict. His attorney declined to comment after the hearing.

After Lee’s arrest last October, the police department said it had suspended him without pay. Department spokesperson Shiera Goff said police officials will be “moving ahead with termination procedures” now that Lee has been convicted.

“The actions of one individual do not define the entire department,” the department said in a statement last year.

Lee, of Rockville, Maryland, applied to be a Montgomery County police officer in July 2021 — six months after the riot. The department said it hired Lee approximately one year after the riot and didn’t know about his alleged involvement in the attack until July 2023, when it learned he was under FBI investigation.

Videos show Lee wearing a Maryland flag-patterned gaiter over his face outside the Capitol. He also wore a military-style medical bag attached to his clothes.

Lee waved at other rioters to overtake police as the mob attacked a line of officers on the West Plaza, according to prosecutors. Moving to the Lower West Terrace, Lee tossed the smoke bomb and three other “rock-like objects” at officers guarding the tunnel, the judge found. Prosecutors said Lee later joined other rioters in “spotlighting” officers inside the tunnel with a flashlight.

The judge rejected Lee’s claim that he was “just trying to make a statement” about police brutality after seeing officers use force against other rioters that day. McFadden also said he believes Lee went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 intending to disrupt Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Defense attorney Terrell Roberts III said the assault charge in this case only applies to acts involving physical contact with the assault victim. Robert argued that the riot shield prevented physical contact between the smoking device and the officer’s body.

“It would be bad policy to send a man to prison where the evidence fails to prove each element of an offense,” he wrote before the trial.

Lee was indicted on seven charges. The judge convicted him of two felonies — interfering with police during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers — and misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing.

But the judge also acquitted him of two misdemeanor charges of engaging in physical violence. McFadden ruled that prosecutors didn’t present sufficient evidence that Lee committed an act of physical violence.

Lee had been on administrative leave since he shot and killed a man suspected of stabbing four people on July 22, 2023, according to the police department. The department said Lee hadn’t been performing a police officer’s duties since the shooting, but his unpaid suspension stemmed from his arrest on Jan. 6 charges.

On the day of last year’s shooting, officers were responding to calls for a stabbing at a thrift store in Silver Spring, Maryland, when they confronted a suspect holding a butcher’s knife. The suspect ignored officers’ commands to drop the knife and lunged at Lee before the officer shot him, police said in a news release.

One of the four stabbing victims was critically injured, police said. A police official told reporters that all of the victims were expected to survive the attacks, which he described as “unprovoked.”

More than 1,400 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 900 of them have pleaded guilty. Over 200 others have been convicted after trials decided by a judge or jury.

Only two Jan. 6 defendants have been acquitted of all charges after a trial. One of them, a Mexico man, was acquitted by McFadden after a trial without a jury.