Just over a week removed from the NCAA tournament loss to Wake Forest that ended its 2019 season, Maryland men’s soccer announced three additions to next year’s roster.
Midfielders Ben Bender and Joe Suchecki and goalkeeper Jamie Lowell are set to join the Terps, who are losing three seniors in forward Luke Brown, defender Johannes Bergmann and midfielder Eli Crognale.
“They are all of the highest character, have an insatiable desire to excel and bring with them a soccer skill set that will allow them to succeed individually as well as add great value to our program,” coach Sasho Cirovski said of the trio of incoming players in a press release.
Bender was a four-year starter at nearby Calvert Hall High School in Baltimore, where he was a team captain and scored 15 goals in his senior season. The Parkville native played club soccer for the Baltimore Armour.
“Ben is a sublimely skillful attacking player who can play in both wide areas as well as centrally,” Cirovski said. “He has the ability to unbalance teams through his dribbling and his passing which allows him to be both a creator and a finisher.”
[Read more: Season in review: Injuries doomed Maryland men’s soccer’s pursuit of another NCAA title]
Suchecki played for New York City FC’s academy team, where he helped it win the under-19 U.S. Soccer Development Academy national championship. Suchecki scored four goals in 12 games for the academy’s under-18/19 squad.
“Joe is a very powerful and skillful soccer player. As a box-to-box midfielder, he can play the role of destroyer as well as playmaker,” Cirovski said. “He has a gifted left foot with a wide range of passing and finishing capacity.”
The pair of incoming midfielders will join a Maryland midfield that projects to return William James Herve from injury, along with returning impact players in Jacob Chakroun, Justin Harris, Malcolm Johnston and David Kovacic, among others.
Lowell, meanwhile, joins a crowded group of goalkeepers. Should all the shot-stoppers on the 2019 squad return, Lowell would be one of five on the roster. Niklas Neumann emerged from the pack in his freshman season to win the starting goalkeeper spot, and he garnered All-Big Ten Second Team honors for his efforts.
The incoming goalkeeper is a New Hampshire native who moved across the country to play for the academy of Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders. Lowell made 15 appearances for Seattle’s under-16/17 squad and featured in seven matches for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.
“Jamie has a commanding presence on the field,” Cirovski said. “He is a confident communicator and a very good distributor of the ball with both his feet and his hands.”