After the Maryland men’s soccer team completed its first undefeated season since 1968 on Sunday, defender Suli Dainkeh said the Terps have turned their attention toward the postseason.
The senior said the No. 1 Terps don’t want to face a similar fate as the Golden State Warriors, who lost in the NBA Finals this summer after finishing with the best regular-season record in NBA history.
After all, coach Sasho Cirovski’s never set a goal to finish the regular season undefeated. He’s focused on winning championships. Maryland claimed the Big Ten regular-season championship, and the Terps will kick off their quest for their second conference crown when the Big Ten tournament begins Saturday. Top-seeded Maryland will host the winner of No. 8-seed Michigan and No. 9-seed Rutgers at Ludwig Field.
“We know everything doesn’t matter if we go out and not win the whole thing,” Dainkeh said.
In Cirovski’s 24 years as Maryland’s coach, the Terps have been to eight College Cups and have won two national championships. This season marked the first time his team has gotten through the regular season undefeated. Maryland came close in 2012, losing one game before falling in the NCAA semifinals.
The Terps prevailed in the Big Ten tournament the past two seasons. Last year, they won the event as the No. 3 seed before losing in penalty kicks to Clemson in the NCAA quarterfinals.
Since then, Cirovski and the players said they’ve been motivated to get redemption. Maryland returned eight starters, three of which are now sophomores who played in their first postseason in 2015. With a year of experience under their belt, an experienced backline and a deep bench, Cirovski is confident in his squad.
“Obviously you saw a lot of that resolve throughout the season,” Cirovski said. “This is what our team is playing for. It’s the postseason. We’ve done a great job to put ourselves in a good position. We’re looking for some really big moments in the next month or so.”
The Terps played two games per week every week in October, and Cirovski said that took its toll. As the No. 1 team in the country, Maryland received each foe’s best shot. The Terps looked tired in some matches, facing multiple upset scares and winning their final six contests by one goal each.
Maryland gets a full week off before playing Sunday, so Cirovski expects his squad to be fresh and make improvements on defense.
The Terps have senior Cody Niedermeier in goal, and seniors headline the backline. Dainkeh and defender Chris Odoi-Atsem started in the 2013 NCAA Final, and all the seniors have NCAA Tournament experience.
Cirovski said the backline would develop into one of the best in the country, but after a five-game shutout streak, the Terps have allowed a combined eight goals in the past five matches. The veteran coach said defense might be the most crucial factor to postseason success.
“That’s a big accomplishment,” Odoi-Atsem said of the undefeated regular season. “None of us are really satisfied with that. There’s basically two seasons in college soccer. The regular season, which we had an outstanding season, but now it’s time to focus on the playoffs.”
It took double overtime for the Terps to beat the Scarlet Knights earlier this season, and the Wolverines held a 2-0 lead at halftime, the largest deficit the Terps faced this year, before Maryland rallied to victory in its regular-season finale. Cirovski hopes his squad can put away its foe Sunday before his team heads to Westfield, Indiana, for the final two games of the tournament.
“This is a real humble group that understands what we’re made of and are supportive of each other,” Cirovski said. “That’s made me feel really good going into the playoffs.”
