As Brian Pensky walked off the field on that warm September evening, it seemed his years of dedication were paying off.
With a wide smile, he bent down and hugged his three children, Will, Alex and Ben, who ran toward him from across the running track at Ludwig Field.
Pensky, the head coach of the Terrapin women’s soccer program, had just guided the team to a victory against a prestigious Santa Clara team on Sept. 4. The win solidified his team as one to be reckoned with this season.
In what has been the program’s best start in 13 years, the Terps (7-0) are ranked among the nation’s finest at No. 9 in Soccer America’s top-25 poll this week.
But the road to the top has not been all smiles. Pensky, who is in his fifth season at the helm, has yet to put together a winning season. Just last year, the Terps were 7-10-1 and finished 9th in the ACC, missing the tournament for the third consecutive season.
For the first time in years there is excitement surrounding the women’s soccer team, as Pensky has built a team that is finding success and still is full of potential.
TRANSITION PROBLEMSWhen Pensky took the Terps’ head coaching position in 2005, he already faced mounting criticism.
He wasn’t National Soccer Hall of Fame member Shannon Higgins-Cirovski, the Terps’ former coach and wife of men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski. He wasn’t even the athletics department’s first choice to replace Higgins-Cirovski.
Pensky was just an assistant coach for three years with the Terps’ men’s soccer team and was hired only after athletics scoured through Olympic coaches, national coaches and other Division I candidates.
Hired only three months before his opening match, Pensky was already late to the game. By the time he took over, his players were finishing up exams and heading home for the summer.
In terms of recruiting, Pensky went to his first tournament the weekend after being hired. When he began to reconnect with fellow coaches, he found most of the players were already verbally committed for the next year.
“I found the recruiting on the women’s side happens much faster than on the guys side,” Pensky said. “Basically, a lot of players were already committed for 2006 and we were losing eight valuable seniors. I freaked out.”
With the eight returning seniors, the Terps were expected to improve off a Sweet 16 finish the year before. But Pensky was up against the country’s toughest schedule.
“I come into this situation where it’s still Shannon’s team and the players’ team more than it is my team,” Pensky said. “Some of those seniors had been with the program for five years, while I had been in the program for two months.”
Adding to the mess, Pensky tried to implement a new strategy. Instead of playing a low-pressure game and trying to counter attack the opponent like the Terps were used to, Pensky wanted to play teams more straight-up.
Five games into the season, the Terps lost their best scoring threat in All-American Mallory Mahar, who tore her ACL. The rest of the season, the team suffered offensively, and was shut out 11 times total.
Instead of improving, the Terps did the opposite and finished with a poor record, a first-round exit in the ACC tournament and no NCAA tournament berth.
Pensky felt he had a better connection with the players heading into the next season, but the results failed to show it. The Terps finished with another losing record, including a 1-6-3 ACC mark. It would prove to be Pensky’s second of four consecutive losing seasons heading into this year.
“It is always difficult to take over a program from someone as respected as Shannon Cirovski, but I really think Brian just needed some time to lay his own foundation and his own philosophy,” Virginia women’s soccer coach Steve Swanson said.
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONIt took two years, but Pensky finally began to see his coaching staff’s efforts in the offseason pay off. While he was concerned about recruiting during his first summer, Pensky still managed to grab future All-ACC goalkeeper Mary Casey and others, including midfielder Molly Dreska and defender Brittany Cummins.
In the next two offseasons, Pensky landed his first highly touted recruiting classes. He put together multiple top-20 recruiting classes that included several top-100 athletes. The 2008 class included nine players ranked among the top 500 prospects in the country.
But with youth comes inexperience. With a bevy of young talent and sparse upperclassmen, Pensky was forced to play incoming recruits early and often.
In the 2007 and 2008 seasons combined, freshman played more than 1,200 minutes for the team. The rawness of freshmen became exposed in conference play. In those two seasons, the team finished with a 4-15-1 ACC record.
But Pensky’s teams did show promise. In 2006, the Terps knocked off No. 10 Tennessee in the season opener and No. 11 Virginia in the final home match. Three times in the 2007 season, the Terps pushed nationally ranked opponents into overtime before losing.
Last season, the team battled back from two goals down against No. 9 Virginia to send the match into overtime but came up short, 3-2. The Terps went on to finish the season with two straight ACC wins.
“I feel like [the Terps] have been on the verge of breaking through the past few seasons but have either had an untimely injuries or a bit of bad luck in a game that has made it hard for them to get a result that would lead to some momentum for them in the conference,” Swanson said.
“WE AIN’T DONE NOTHIN’ YET”Through his first four seasons as head coach, Pensky compiled a record of 23-39-11 and no NCAA tournament berths. From an outsider’s perspective, one might have began to wonder if he was fit for the job.
“No one sees what he does off the field, and no one knows how much he puts into this program,” assistant coach Laurie George said. “He is so connected with every player on this team. It takes a couple years to get the type of player you’re looking for. Right now we have a lot of soccer junkies with a ton of talent.”
For the first time in his coaching career, Pensky has depth. The current coaching staff recruited every single player on the roster. Instead of playing freshman because he has no other choice, Pensky has the ability to play whoever is practicing hard enough to earn the spot.
Entering this season, the Terps were picked by ACC coaches to finish eighth in the conference. Returning many starters, but still young, the team was a large unknown.
Seeing these outside expectations, the Terps instilled an us-against-the-world mentality. Their motto: “We Ain’t Done Nothin’ Yet.”
“We have finally been able to establish a culture in these players,” assistant coach Jon Morgan said. “That culture includes being committed to improving as individuals, treating ourselves as professionals and taking care of all the little details.”
Despite seven consecutive wins and a top-10 ranking, Pensky and his team hold the same motto true. It may take an ACC championship and NCAA tournament berth for the team to finally feel accomplished.
This season, Pensky has quickly begun to make believers of his program and his vision. Of the Terps’ starters, only three are seniors. Seven sophomores and three freshmen have either started or played significant minutes so far this season.
“We have some of the best players in the country in our program,” Pensky said. “Our future is very bright, but we are going to keep fighting to get to the top. In no way have we accomplished what we want to.”
eckard@umdbk.com
