Midfielder Mael Corboz fends off a defender during Terps’ 1-0 win over Washington at Ludwig Field on Oct. 23, 2015.

Terrapins men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski has always taken pride in relying on his instincts to judge when to push his players harder and when to ease up. 

He’s in his 23rd season coaching the Terps, and he played briefly for the Milwaukee Wave of the American Indoor Soccer Association. 

But with many in college soccer placing more emphasis on periodization, which deals with systematically planning training regimens, the veteran coach wanted to begin judging his team’s energy on more than his intuition. So before the season, Cirovski purchased GPS trackers for his players to wear. He wants to ensure the Terps regulate their workload during the season.

“Last year, for example, I think they obviously did a really good job with kind of resting us when we needed rest and all that,” midfielder Mael Corboz said. “But I think this year, it’s much easier for them ‘cause they have a quantifiable measurement.”

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The Terps wear what looks like a sports bra under their jerseys with the GPS attached, allowing coaches to track how far and how intensely they run during games and practices. It’s allowed Cirovski to more precisely prepare for his practices every day.

“Through the middle of practice, I can walk over and see, ‘OK, they’ve already done 45 percent of their workload, so I got another 5 percent to go,’” Cirovski said. “So it’s a very scientific approach to making sure that we’re on top of putting them in a good place physically.”

Cirovski said having the tracking system has also added credibility to his decision- making, as the players know his choices are supported by metrics. 

Corboz said it is common for the coaches to limit the team’s work rate, even when the players believe they have more energy in the tank. And while Corboz knows his teammates might be able to push through the fatigue, he understands the potentially damaging consequences.

“Sometimes we’ll tell someone like Mael that he’s got to get off the practice field and get into the cold tub rather than staying out because of the workload that he did, and he’ll buy in,” Cirovski said. “So you can get a bigger buy-in when you have more backup data.”

Through 15 games, Corboz said the system has generated an average running distance and intensity, making it easy for the coaches to tell which players aren’t putting in as much work as they’re able to. 

Cirovski, meanwhile, compared it to watching film, as it forces players to be accountable for their performances. 

“If you’re taking plays off, it’ll show in the data for sure,” Corboz said. “And if they’re significantly lower for one game, they’re either really tired or they’re cheating.”

Despite computing some disappointing figures, this data has also revealed some impressive feats. 

Against Indiana on Oct. 16, Cirovski said midfielder Tsubasa Endoh “played it at a sprint,” meaning that 80 percent of his runs in the scoreless draw came at an intensity of 80 percent or higher. Corboz, meanwhile, said he ran about 17 kilometers, which is the equivalent to 10.56 miles, in the Terps’ tie with Michigan on Sept. 11.

But midfielder Amar Sejdic is not concerned with other players’ measurements. Knowing the Terps will likely continue using the GPS tracking system, Sejdic instead focuses on how he can improve his effort game by game. 

“It’s kind of like in the back of your head now,” Sejdic said, “that you want to like prove the data, like prove that you’ve done your work and that there’s positive things coming from it.”