At halftime of tonight’s Terrapin men’s soccer game at Virginia, the Cavaliers will honor members of their 1993 national championship team, which that year became the only team in NCAA history to win three consecutive national titles.

That same season, a first-year coach named Sasho Cirovski managed the Terps in their 1-0 loss against that Cavalier team led by future soccer star Claudio Reyna and U.S. Men’s National Team coach Bruce Arena. Since that time, the Terps-Cavaliers series has had its share of pivotal matchups, including an NCAA tournament game and four ACC tournament title games.

Tonight’s game in Charlottesville, Va., could be another, with the No. 5 Terps and the Cavaliers tied for second place in the ACC and only two regular-season games remaining.

“Every year I’ve been here, it’s been an important game,” Cirovski said. “The years we have been successful against Virginia, we’ve played complete games. Defensively, we’re gonna have to be very good and be efficient in our chances because you don’t get that many chances in these games.”

The Terps (13-3-0, 4-2 ACC) go into the game riding a six-game winning streak, while Virginia (9-5-1, 4-2) lost its last two ACC games to Duke and Boston College, both 1-0.

Much like the Terp attack, which is spearheaded by freshman forward Casey Townsend with 10 goals, the Cavalier offense is keyed by a rookie. Midfielder Tony Tchani leads the team with nine goals.

“Virginia is very athletic and very skillful,” Cirovski said. “They’re young, but they’re extremely talented.”

One of the players in charge of shutting down Tchani is Terp defender A.J. Delagarza. For the senior playing in his final career regular season matchup against the Cavaliers, the most important thing the Terps can do is continue to play the way they’ve been playing over the last month – regardless of what should be an intense road atmosphere surrounding them.

“We need to just stay connected at UVA,” Delagarza said. “Their fans are gonna be there, so just stay inside the lines, basically, and not worry about things outside that we can’t control.”

A win for the Terps tonight would go a long way toward guaranteeing them the second or third seed in the ACC tournament, which is important in order to avoid another potential matchup with unbeaten No. 1 Wake Forest until the conference tournament title game. Virginia finishes its season with a game against the Demon Deacons next week.

“It’s definitely a big game,” defender Rich Costanzo said. “It’s a big rivalry and they’ve got a good team. We’re gonna go out and play our game.”

Lately, the Terps’ game has been aided by the emergence of forward Jason Herrick, who scored both goals in the team’s 2-1 win against N.C. State last weekend. But Cirovski might need more offensive help if he wants to improve his 7-11-4 record against Virginia as the Terps’ coach, and he’s been pushing his midfielders to fill gaps in the attack during practice all week.

While Cirovski probably won’t see the halftime ceremony honoring that 1993 Virginia title team, it’s a good reminder of what the rivalry between the two teams has meant and what it takes to win a national championship.

“I like the way we’ve been playing, but I think that there’s a reason both teams are having good years,” Cirovski said. “It’s gonna be a great game.”

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