Sebastian Elney winds up for a kick during a a game with the U-18 U.S. Men’s National Team.
With the graduation of forward Patrick Mullins, the Terrapins men’s soccer team entered last season without an established goal scorer. Over his four-year career, Mullins was a two-time recipient of the MAC Hermann Trophy, awarded to the nation’s top player and finished second in program history with 47 goals.
Despite winning the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles this past season, the Terps lacked a dangerous attacking presence. Mael Corboz lead the team with 10 goals from the midfield position, while forward Alex Shinsky and midfielder Mikias Eticha combined to score five times.
Enter Sebastian Elney, a 6-foot, 167-pound freshman striker who will suit up for the Terps in the fall. As a strong, physical competitor, a top-ranked recruit out of high school and a current member of the U-18 U.S. Men’s National Team, coach Sasho Cirovski said he believes Elney might be the player to bring back that scoring mentality as the Terps search for their first national championship since 2008.
“He can help create goals, and he can score them,” Cirovski said. “It’s something that we lacked on our team last year, so I think he’s one of the missing pieces that I think will help us bring back the Maryland attacking identity back to the field.”
MAKING THE SWITCH
Years before Elney flashed his scoring potential as a forward, he primarily played another position. His father, Milher, who coached Sebastian until his U-14 team, played his son at center midfield because of his versatility.
“I always used him as a center midfield player because of his strength and his ability to defend and control the game,” Milher said. “Playing at that level, he used to carry so much of the team on him. He’d be defending, and he’d be scoring goals.”
But when Elney participated in his first Olympic Development Program at 13, coach George Moyssidis made a worthwhile recommendation.
“[Moyssidis] said, ‘If you want to make it to the next level, you have to become a forward because there’s not many forwards out there,’” Elney said. “He thought I had what it takes to become a forward. At the time, I didn’t really think too much of it and decided to go with it and it paid off.”
The Boca Raton, Florida, native, thrived in his new role. He played on Boca United, a local club team, and on the Boca Raton Community High School team, where he scored 18 goals and had 20 assists as a junior.
Despite his success on these squads, Elney wanted to develop further and compete at a higher level, which would better prepare him for the future. And after talking with Philadelphia Union Academy chief scout Mark Prizant, Elney left his family in August 2014 and moved to Philadelphia, where he played his senior season on the U-18 squad.
“The level of soccer in the academy program like that [would] just really develop my skills more than I could even begin to ask for,” Elney said. “I just decided to take that next step into the academy level.”
PROVING HIMSELF
It didn’t take long for Elney to settle in against premiere competition. In the season opener against Baltimore Bays Chelsea on Sept. 6, 2014, Elney scored the team’s first goal in the 12th minute, and the Union cruised to a 4-1 victory.
But a week later against Player Development Academy, the Terps recruit left the game at halftime with a knee injury he suffered while making a tackle. The injury, which forced him to miss nearly two months, didn’t affect his college plans — he verbally committed to the Terps in November — but it stripped Elney of valuable experience at the academy level.
“I don’t think he scored as much as he would have liked or we would have liked,” Union coach Peter Fuller said. “He was injured a lot this last year, and it cut down the number of goals he scored, but it really put him behind the eight ball in terms of his development.”
Still, Elney finished the year as one of the Union’s top offensive options. He tied for second on the team with seven goals despite missing six games and displayed the characteristics of a pure goal scorer.
“He added quality in terms of he’s a big, strong kid, very good playing with his back to goal,” Fuller said. “Having somebody of that quality, it not only makes us better as a team, it makes the players around him better as well.”
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
While Fuller had high praise for Elney — he used words such as “excellent” and “terrific” to describe his forward’s performance during the final month of the academy season — the former college coach pinpointed areas that Elney needs to further develop.
To score more, Fuller said Elney needs to position himself better. At times throughout last season, Elney drifted wide, which put him in a spot to create scoring chances rather than convert them.
Fuller remains confident Elney will succeed with the Terps, especially under Cirovski, who Fuller acknowledged for taking incoming players and molding them into consistent performers.
“His work ethic and getting himself in really good shape, he did a phenomenal job with that,” Fuller said. “If he can continue that type of a work ethic at Maryland, it will put him in really good stead in terms of his development.”
And Cirovski is optimistic his five-star recruit will do just that.
“I have no doubt that he will have an impact,” Cirovski said. “But how quickly and how much? That’s only up to him. But my suspicion is that he’s going to have a major impact this year.”
