Sasho Cirovski
Back in August, Sasho Cirovski sat with fork and knife in hand, but he didn’t touch the chicken breast or salad that sat on the table in front of him at Mulligan’s Grill and Pub at the university golf course.
There was too much to discuss.
Holding court in front of the local media, the Terrapins men’s soccer coach talked quickly and excitedly about the upcoming season, the state of college soccer and anything else that came to his mind. He was in his element, displaying a youthful radiance despite being on the doorstep of his 20th year as coach.
Nearly 16 weeks later and more than 750 miles away in Hoover, Ala., an ashen and somber Cirovski sat in a Regions Park press box. The Terps had just fallen to Georgetown in penalty kicks in the College Cup semifinals, and Creighton and Indiana could be seen warming up for the night’s second game through the panoramic windows on the coach’s right.
On that overcast August day, there was no doubt in Cirovski’s mind the Terps would be watching that semifinal. They would be scouting the two teams on the field, waiting to see which they would battle for the national championship.
But they wouldn’t have any reason to watch that second semifinal. Instead, the Terps were headed back to College Park empty handed, losers in their first College Cup appearance since 2008.
“It’s very difficult to cope with the reality that we’re not advancing,” Cirovski said.
Through the duration of the season, it seemed like nothing could — or would — stop the Terps as they marched toward the program’s fourth national championship. Even when they hiccuped late in the year, stumbling to a tie and a loss against Clemson and Wake Forest, respectively, to close their regular season slate, they rebounded right away.
They captured an ACC championship with a dominating performance over North Carolina. The Terps, whose preseason goals were the ACC regular season title, conference tournament title and national championship, were just one step away from achieving the daunting task Cirovski had set out for them.
“We’re contenders every year,” Cirovski said in August. “But I’ve said before, if we don’t bring at least one championship home this year, whether it’s an ACC or national championship, this will be a failure.”
As the Terps slowly walked off the field, the ACC’s regular season and tournament championships provided little solace. After near-perfect regular and postseason runs, they came up short when it mattered most.
The team’s three seniors — midfielder John Stertzer and defenders Taylor Kemp and London Woodberry — sank to the ground and covered their faces. Midfielder Helge Leikvang wore an expression of shock and disbelief after his final penalty kick was saved by Georgetown goalkeeper Tomas Gomez to end the game.
“It just wasn’t meant to be,” forward Patrick Mullins said.
But for so long, it seemed like it was.
There were so many opportunities for the Terps to slip up. They played North Carolina twice. They battled Louisville twice, beating them both times to exact revenge after the Cardinals bounced them from the 2011 postseason. They also tied UCLA, which started the season with the nation’s No. 2 ranking.
Plus, with the amount of talent on the team, Cirovski had to find players enough minutes and keep his team happy. But instead of clashing egos, that immense talent pool proved to be unmatchable depth. Sixteen players scored for the Terps this year, and 19 recorded points for the nation’s highest scoring offense. Only two Terps who played this year didn’t play a direct role in a goal.
“The fact there are so many talented players who are embracing and understanding their role has been a real credit to the players putting the ‘we’ in front of the ‘me,’” Cirovski said after the ACC Championship win Nov. 11.
That depth meant no game was ever out of reach for the Terps. Against Georgetown, the Terps fell behind, 3-1 and 4-2, but each time scored to put the game back within reach before forward Christiano Francois tied it with about 13 minutes remaining.
“Against a team like Maryland, you’re never going to feel secure with that,” Georgetown coach Brian Wiese said. “They proved exactly why they’re leading the country in scoring goals this season.”
Led by MAC Hermann Trophy finalist Mullins, who finished the year with team highs in goals (17) and assists (10), the Terps (20-1-3) steamrolled through their early schedule. And as the goals dried up later in the season, they still found the net when they needed it most, whether it was from Francois (five) or forward Schillo Tshuma (10) or even Woodberry (three).
But the scene in Hoover ended three Terps stalwarts’ careers in College Park. Stertzer, Kemp and Woodberry won 68 games and left their marks on the program, whether it was Stertzer’s 14 goals last year, Kemp’s battling back from injuries or Woodberry’s three big goals this year.
There will be voids to fill, but Cirovski returns a plethora of young players now more experienced and fresh off a gutting disappointment on the sport’s biggest stage. Cirovski will reload, and the Terps can make another run.
“I’m always going to remember this day,” Tshuma said after his two-goal performance in Hoover. “I’m already looking forward to next year. We have a lot of young players, and we’re going to have another chance to be back in the College Cup next year.”
Friday night was a bitter disappointment, but while Cirovski sat in Hoover, the gears were already turning in his head.
“We’re going to be back,” Cirovski said. “We will be in Philadelphia next year, and you can put that down.”
sportsdbk@gmail.com
