Yeah right, coach.
Those three words summarize what some of the players on the Terrapin men’s soccer team thought last December when coach Sasho Cirovski made a promise while celebrating a national championship victory.
“We were all celebrating on the field and people were excited, shouting all sorts of things that don’t ever come true,” senior midfielder A.J. Godbolt, said laughing. “Sash gathered us together and said, ‘We are all gonna remember this moment, and the first thing I am gonna do is get that goal.'”
But Cirovski wasn’t joking.
He told the Terps they should run through “that goal” during team introductions before every future home game.
Then-forward Marc Burch scored on that net and then-sophomore goalie Chris Seitz stuffed a penalty kick in front of the goal during the Terps’ 1-0 championship win against New Mexico.
And like Cirovski said at the time, the Terps now run through it before every game at Ludwig Field.
“I know he said it,” Seitz said. “I thought it was just a heat of the moment thing, but it’s there.”
The idea came to Cirovski one day before the College Cup as he left his office and saw how the university recognized the men’s basketball team.
On a wall in Comcast Center hangs the center circle of the floor from the Georgia Dome – where the basketball team won the 2002 championship.
“I walked by the floor from the basketball championship and I thought, ‘This is such a great idea,'” Cirovski said. “And we certainly couldn’t bring back any grass.”
So Cirovski made arrangements to bring the goal back to Ludwig Field.
He contacted the employees at SAS Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C., where the championship game took place, and agreed to replace the original goal.
When the goal arrived in College Park, it had nothing on it – just the white frame of a cross-bar and two posts. For a few games, the Terps ran through the plain-looking goal.
As the season progressed, so did the decorations attached to the posts. Signs, a picture and the 2005 roster were added to commemorate the national championship, and the final edition had a small net with an opening in the middle for the Terps to run through.
“It was all part of it. It just took a while for it to come together,” Cirovski said.
The additions did not happen immediately because the goal needed some reinforcements, which welders helped put on, to hold up the signs. Including all expenses, the project cost about $10,000, which the university covered.
“It’s complete now,” Cirovski said.
And what will the coach promise if the Terps win another national championship?
“Well,” Cirovski said laughing, “we have three more corners wide open.”
Contact reporter Bryan Mann at bmanndbk@gmail.com.
