Maryland men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski calmly stood on the Cole Field House sidelines Wednesday afternoon, monitoring his team’s scrimmage — its last practice in College Park before the Elite Eight.

He walked onto the field for a few intermittent remarks, instructing his players where they should be, what runs they could’ve made, what passes they might have missed. But for a coach seen throughout his career injecting emotion into games, Cirovski let his team play without much interjection.

Lately, there hasn’t been much for him to correct. Cirovski’s team is 6-1-1 since its last-minute loss to then-No. 4 Indiana on Oct. 12. The Terps have scored in a season-best nine consecutive games, without conceding a goal in 229 straight minutes.

Cirovski has sensed a confidence and calmness his squad hasn’t displayed in years. Now, only a win away from the program’s first College Cup since 2013, Maryland has a veteran leadership that he doesn’t have to will to a win Friday night against No. 3-seed Kentucky in the NCAA quarterfinals.

“They’re at the point where I don’t have to coach them. I just roll it out,” Cirovski said. “They know exactly what to do, and they’ve taken over ownership of what has to happen in the course of a game.”

[Read more: In his senior season, Andrew Samuels is finally a captain for Maryland men’s soccer]

In 2015, another double-digit seeded Terps team played on the same stage with a trip to the College Cup on the line in the quarterfinal against Clemson. Maryland brutally lost in a penalty shootout after 110 minutes.

Three current seniors — forward Sebastian Elney and midfielders Andrew Samuels and Amar Sejdic — played significant minutes in that game as freshmen. Now, they have one final chance to surpass the round they reached three years ago, something the team has struggled to even come close to ever since.

“We came so close. At the time, I didn’t even realize we were just one shot on target or even a penalty away from making it to the College Cup,” Sejdic said. “Thinking about Friday, it’s definitely a chance to redeem ourselves and book that ticket we didn’t get to book freshman year.”

[Read more: Unlike past years, Maryland men’s soccer’s postseason run is led by its defense]

Kentucky’s 19-1-1 record marks its most successful season in program history, but Maryland has the clear advantage in experience. The Terps have started nine upperclassmen in their two NCAA tournament games, while the Wildcats have started nine underclassmen.

Defender Tanner Hummel is the only senior on Kentucky’s roster, and while the team has NCAA tournament berths in four of the last five years, this is its first-ever trip to the Elite Eight.

Not only have Maryland players already endured falling one game shy of the College Cup, they also know the pain of losing in the first round in each of the last two years.

And the Terps’ six-man senior class — twice the size of last year — doesn’t want Friday to be the last day of their college careers.

“I think that helps us drive forward,” Samuels said. “What’s helped push us so much is that we have a lot of experience on this team, and obviously in the last two years we didn’t do as well as we wanted to in the NCAA tournament.”

Even though Kentucky doesn’t have the same senior-led motivation, that hasn’t deterred it from compiling a flawless 12-0 record at home this season, where they’ve outscored opponents 32-2. Despite their youth, they’re the only team still playing with a top-five ranked offense and defense.

Sejdic knows the differing experience levels no longer matter once the Terps step on the field in Lexington.

“Maybe we have more of an edge because we want to win and go as far as we possibly can,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we can’t forget that without technical and tactical concentration we won’t succeed.”

After Maryland’s upset win over No. 6-seed Duke in the third round, Cirovski said his team felt invincible following two consecutive shutouts with multiple goals scored. Samuels concurred, saying their best effort is enough to beat any team in the country.

So when Sejdic scored Wednesday during one of his last training sessions in College Park, Cirovski kept his arms folded at midfield as he watched on, not needing to bark out any further instructions. His team is poised, and it knows the effort and mentality required to advance to the College Cup.

“At this level, it can just take a chance of luck,” Sejdic said. “But the team that wants it, who shows the heart, who shows the grit through all 90 minutes without taking a minute off, is going to be the one who comes out on top.”