Senior defender London Woodberry. Charlie DeBoyace/The Diamondback

The allure was there.

The national audience. The top-notch facilities. The chance to prove themselves against some of the world’s best players.

They’re the opportunities that make a professional career the goal of any young soccer player, and they’re opportunities that three members of the Terrapins men’s soccer team considered when weighing whether or not to enter the MLS SuperDraft after last season.

But midfielder John Stertzer and defenders Taylor Kemp and London Woodberry put that dream on hold, returning to College Park for one more season.

Sure, two of their former teammates, forward Casey Townsend and defender Alex Lee — both part of the Terps’ 2008 national championship team — were graduating and heading to the MLS: Chivas USA drafted Townsend fifth overall, and FC Dallas drafted Lee 11th overall in the supplemental draft.

But Stertzer, Kemp and Woodberry came up empty in their first two postseason runs and were left unsatisfied yet again last season after Louisville dispatched the Terps from the NCAA Tournament in late November.

“When the season came to an end, it wasn’t on terms I was happy with,” Kemp said in August. “So it made it pretty easy for me that I knew I wanted to stay.”

Kemp joined the Terps three years ago knowing the MLS waited in the future. Coach Sasho Cirovski, after all, has produced 44 MLS players in the past 19 years, including two No. 1 picks in the MLS SuperDraft.

“I think this is the best environment that I’ve ever heard of for being prepared for going into the pros,” Kemp said. “[Sasho] is an intense guy, and he knows how to get the most out of his players, and it’s something that I think has made all of us better.”

Even when trying to put together a championship team, Cirovski still has his eye on the future of his players beyond the confines of Ludwig Field. Cirovski isn’t afraid to change a player’s position if he thinks it will help the team, and the player, flourish.

Former Terp Omar Gonzalez was a forward when he came to College Park. By the end of his three-year Terps career, he was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year at center back. He went on to be drafted third overall in the MLS SuperDraft and was the 2009 Rookie of the Year with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Not to mention the No. 4 Terps (2-0-1) play in the ACC, which has produced five College Cup winners since 2005. Week in and week out, the Terps will face a slate of teams that includes three ranked in the top 25, a group headed by No. 1 North Carolina. The Terps’ conference schedule begins tonight with a matchup at No. 24 Boston College (2-1-0).

“The quality in the ACC is from top to bottom,” Townsend said in June. “It’s a really good league, probably the best in the country in my opinion. When you’re playing against the best players every week it prepares you for another level, so I think I was very well-prepared at Maryland, and playing in the ACC was a big part of that.”

Cirovski said that as time has gone on, he and the coaching staff have gotten better at helping players evaluate their futures at the next level and beyond. The communication not only allows the players to gauge their stock, but also lets Cirovski prepare for a future without a certain player.

“These kids come with dreams of being pros,” Cirovski said. “We help them. There isn’t any fighting with players. Some players still maybe leave before their time for various reasons, but for the most part, we’re well-prepared and well ahead of it.”

Stertzer, the Terps’ second-leading scorer in 2011, didn’t think it was his time yet. By returning to the team, he knows he can help himself prepare for the MLS in addition to trying to capture Cirovski’s third national title.

That preparation continues tonight against the Eagles.

“You look at all the guys that have gone on, they’ve all done well because the team has done well,” Stertzer said. “Of course, people set individual goals and everything, but you look at all the teams in the past, most of the guys leave when the teams do well. I figured if I stayed here and worked on my own individual growth, I could help the team in the best way to move us forward to the Final Four and a national championship.”

dgallen@umdbk.com