Jake Pace
Sasho Cirovski knew the beginning of the Terrapins men’s soccer team’s 2013 schedule was going to be a struggle.
A West Coast swing to open the season against two potential tournament teams in Stanford and No. 5 California, as well as contests against the Terps’ two biggest rivals — North Carolina and Duke — were all packed into the first five games of the year.
And the Terps have felt the brunt of their tough opening slate, winning one of their first four games — albeit an inspiring 3-1 victory over the Blue Devils at Ludwig Field on Friday — and plummeting 16 spots in the national rankings.
The conclusion of the season-opening gauntlet, though, comes tonight when the Terps travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face the No. 2 Tar Heels at Fetzer Field.
“I really like this team,” Cirovski said. “There’s a lot of character, a lot of quality. We’re going through a hardening process right now, and I think we’ve obviously been working better as a whole team defensively from front to back.”
Cirovski’s team has emerged battered and bruised. After losses to the Golden Bears and Virginia Commonwealth, the Terps have a losing record for the first time since a season-opening loss in 2010.
But Cirovski has instilled a process-oriented, forward-thinking culture in his program, and it has allowed the Terps to continue through the season without getting too hung up on the losses.
“We’re obviously going to learn from it,” forward Jake Pace said Sunday. “We’ve learned from every game we’ve lost. We’re going to keep building. We’re going to make sure we understand what happened on the goals and how next time to prevent that.”
Youth has been the primary factor in preventing the Terps’ talent from gelling on the field. Cirovski has started three freshmen and a freshman goalkeeper consistently through the first four games, and that inexperience was put on display Sunday night when the Terps surrendered three goals in the final 13 minutes of regulation in a 3-2 loss to the unranked Rams.
Cirovski was adamant, though, that there will be no changes at goalkeeper and no changes in the backline for Friday night.
The Terps will likely be without midfielder Alex Shinsky, who suffered a hamstring injury late in the game against VCU. Cirovski said this was the first time the junior started the season in game shape, as injuries have plagued his career.
“He’s already getting better every day,” Cirovski said.
Though they will be without Shinsky, who can provide a boost off the bench with his energy, the Terps have plenty of upperclassmen to help guide the team through its rough start. They’ve endured some of the toughest losses in recent program history, including last season’s College Cup.
And now with these early-season struggles, the younger Terps have learned the difficulty of soccer at the Division I level.
“This is why I wanted a tough schedule to begin with,” Cirovski said. “It’s not very forgiving right now, but we’ll get there.”
