University President Wallace Loh has served at this university since 2010 and followed the Maryland men’s soccer team as it’s competed for national championships. Yet after watching the Terps’ 5-0 win over Hartford on Monday, Loh told coach Sasho Cirovski that this year’s squad is the best he’s seen.
The championship-caliber teams Cirovski has coached in the past 22 years along with Maryland have featured a large number of returning starters. The Terps have eight this season.
The stage is set for No. 7 Maryland to win a fifth
straight conference tournament, as the coaches picked this team to win the Big Ten in their preseason poll. But the Terps are determined to go all the way this season, a feat they haven’t accomplished since 2008.
“The team is very motivated to play in the final weekend of this year,” Cirovski said. “They’ve shown that with their work in the summer and their preparation in the preseason. We’re a process-orientated team. We’re a team that tries to get better every practice, every game. We want to be the last team standing and the last team smiling.”
Midfielders Mael Corboz and Tsubasa Endoh — who combined for 32 points in 2015 — graduated this past offseason, but Maryland (1-0-1) returns most of its key players. And through transfers and adjustments in their lineup, the Terps added more talent to their midfield.
Midfielder Jake Rozhansky, who was named second-team All-ACC with Virginia last season, transferred to Maryland this past spring. Eryk Williamson moved to attacking midfield after primarily playing up top last year, while Gordon Wild, the country’s leading scorer at South Carolina Upstate a season ago, joins Sebastian Elney in the attack.
So far, the transfers have fit well into Cirovski’s up-tempo system. Rozhansky has taken over Endoh’s role on the right side of the midfield, and Wild leads the team with two goals.
“He’s a mix between Tsubasa and Mael,” Cirovski said of Rozhansky. “With the way we play, our wide guys are more like central midfielders. He’s got quite a bit of freedom to get involved in the attack.”
The Terps have gotten out to slow starts the past two seasons, with a combined record of 7-6-5 before October. They struggled to score consistently from game-to-game.
With a bevy of talent on the attack, Maryland hopes to solve that issue this season. Elney led the Terps with seven goals last season, while Wild adds another scoring threat on the opposite side. Maryland’s midfielders have a knack for scoring — Endoh was third on the team in goals last year— and Cirovski gets defenders involved offensively as well.
Cirovski said he doesn’t want his attacking players to play the entire game early in the season. He wants to save their legs for the later part of the year.
The veteran coach has the luxury of not losing much production without his starters on the field. Forwards DJ Reeves and George Campbell have played significant minutes off the bench and combined for four points through two games.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Wild said of playing in the attack. “The relationships are starting to grow. We have a lot of depth. They’re great players, all of them. We can do something special this year.”
After the Terps allowed the second-fewest goals-per-game in the Big Ten (.85) last season, they returned three starters on their backline, all of whom are seniors.
Cirovski said a strong backline is crucial to winning a national championship, and he believes this year’s backline will evolve into one of the best in the country throughout the season. Cody Niedermeier, who started his first full season last year, anchors the Terps in net.
In 2015, Maryland went on a six-game winning streak to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals but lost to Clemson in penalty kicks. Defender Alex Crognale — who said the Terps should have made the College Cup — said the Terps have used that loss as motivation this past spring and summer.
Two games into this season, the Terps’ quest for their first appearance in the College Cup since 2013 has begun. Cirovski said this is one of the best teams he’s ever coached, and he’s not shying away from discussing the team’s lofty expectations.
“The standards at Maryland are high, and our goals are even higher,” Cirovski said. “We don’t expect to win every game, but we expect we’re playing our best soccer late in the year and hopefully have a magical season. Hopefully we can bring another championship back to College Park.”
