Sasho Cirovski has won eight combined regular-season conference championships in his 26 years as the head coach of the Maryland and Hartford men’s soccer teams.
Yet after the Terps won the Big Ten regular season on Friday with a 3-2 win over Wisconsin and four games remaining on the schedule, Cirovski said it was the earliest he’s earned the title.
Cirovski is happy with the championship, but the veteran coach said it’s the first step of winning two more: the Big Ten tournament and NCAA tournament. When the No. 1 Terps (11-0-2) host American (7-4-3) at Ludwig Field on Tuesday night, they’ll focus on improving to reach their ultimate goal in December.
“We have a slogan at Maryland: ‘Building champions and pursuing championships,'” Cirovski said. “Building champions is a process we work on developing our players both on and off the field. We also want to win championships. It’s an incredible statement of excellence to now have won another Big Ten title so early in the season.”
Cirovski won the American East regular-season championship with Hartford each of the two years he coached there.
The Terps, however, weren’t a strong program when Cirovski took the head-coaching job in 1993. Plus, the ACC was one of the most competitive soccer conferences in the country, so Cirovski didn’t bring a regular-season title to College Park until 2003.
Since then, Cirovski has won five regular-season crowns, including four in the past five years.
Still, the Terps have had postseason success in years they didn’t win the regular-season title. Cirovski wants his players to peak in the postseason, so Maryland has sometimes experienced slow starts.
In 2008, the Terps finished second in the ACC but won the national championship. Maryland finished second in the Big Ten with a 3-2-3 conference record last year before hitting its stride in the postseason to win the Big Ten tournament and qualify for the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.
This year’s team, which Cirovski said is one the best groups he’s ever coached, reached immediate success with eight returning starters.
Maryland still endured some growing pains with players learning news roles, such as Eryk Williamson moving from forward to midfield and forward Gordon Wild fitting into Cirovski’s up-tempo offense after transferring from South Carolina Upstate. The Terps have improved throughout the season, scoring the third most goals per game in the country (2.46) while allowing two goals in the past six matches.
“It feels good,” defender Alex Crognale said. “We’re happy, but we’re not satisfied. There’s still more work to get done.”
Cirovski said Maryland’s victory over Wisconsin had the feel of a championship match. The Terps trailed in the 87th minute, but with 88th-minute and overtime goals, Maryland kept its undefeated season in tact.
Crognale said contests like Friday prepare the Terps for high-pressure situations in the postseason and prove the squad’s composure. Still, the Terps surrendered two scores in a three-minute span.
“We have to pull the full 90,” Williamson said. “We take breaks at times. That’s something we have to make sure we’re focusing on. It’s not a championship effort to play 45 minutes.”
Maryland celebrated the Big Ten regular season championship by jumping up and down on Ludwig Field with the trophy after its victory Friday.
But the Terps’ goal since the beginning of the season has been to win the national championship. That objective hasn’t slipped their minds.
“This is the third-most important of the championships we’re seeking,” Cirovski said. “We certainly want to win the tournament championship in the Big Ten and then we want to win the big one. It was good to get this one under our belt and move on to the next ones.”
