Maryland men’s soccer referred to 2024 as its “revenge season.”

The Terps entered the year coming off their worst campaign since 1993 — coach Sasho Cirovski’s first year with the team. Maryland sought to return to prominence, which it became accustomed to in Cirovski’s tenure.

Maryland bounced back, avenging numerous losses from the previous season to make a return to the NCAA tournament. But the Terps faltered during the last month of the season, leading to a premature end to a once-promising looking campaign.

“We were in position to win the league in the last two weeks, and unfortunately that was our difficult stretch,” Cirovski said.
Maryland began conference play with one of its best starts in program history. The Terps picked up three consecutive victories over Wisconsin, Indiana and Northwestern to vault to the top of the conference table. They won five of their first six Big Ten matches with one draw in that span.

A formation switch led to the success.

Cirovski started junior Chris Steinleitner in a midfield trio alongside sophomores Leon Koehl or Kenny Quist-Therson, or junior Albi Ndrenika. Steinleitner primarily played as a defensive-minded midfielder, taking up the space just in front of Maryland’s back line.

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The Terps’ stingy defense led to their 16-point total through six Big Ten games. Maryland’s back four, one of the most experienced groups on the team, picked up two clean sheets and only conceded five goals in the six-match run of positive results. Freshman goalie Laurin Mack racked up 19 saves over the six outings and finished with 52 for the season.

Maryland rose to as high as No. 2 in the national rankings and created a gap between itself and Ohio State and Indiana, two of the Terps’ challengers to the Big Ten championship. They were credible contenders to both a conference and national title.

But after a win over Washington in October, Maryland didn’t beat another Big Ten team for the remainder of the year. It fell from first place to third after going winless in the final four games of the regular season.

The slide started with Koehl’s injury against UCLA, causing him to miss the final three regular season matches and forcing another change to the formation. Alex Nitzl returned to the midfield after playing a majority of the year at right back, with freshman Jace Clark filling in on defense.

The Terps netted just two goals in their three-game losing streak while allowing seven scores. Their struggles continued in the first round of the Big Ten tournament against UCLA when they conceded six scores without an answer, tying the most goals that a Cirovski-coached Maryland team has given up.

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The Terps went on to fall in the second round of the NCAA tournament in a 2-1 loss to Wake Forest, ending their ultimately disappointing season.

“This is a very tough college soccer schedule,” Cirovski said. “And the way we play, where we put out a lot of effort in every game because of that high energy team we are, we need to be … deeper next year. And that’s the plan.”

Cirovski will need to replace a bulk of his defensive mainstays from this year. Nitzl and center back Bjarne Thiesen were both graduate students and will depart the program, while Thiesen’s partner William Kulvik just completed his fourth season with the Terps. Mack and junior Luca Costabile will be the lone returners to Maryland’s starting back line.

While the Terps were able to return to the NCAA tournament and achieve a high finish in the Big Ten standings, a second round exit doesn’t embody the standards of their program. Maryland will need further improvement next year without a bulk of their veteran leaders.

While Koehl and junior forward Colin Griffith — two of the Terps’ top offensive players this season — will return alongside key faces all over the pitch, it will likely be up to the new players next year to help the Terps advance past the second round for the first time since 2018.

“We’re going to get after it in the recruiting process,” Cirovski said. “We have some good kids coming in, but we’re going to continue to build the team. We want to be a much deeper team next year, I think that’s the one area that maybe bit us a little this year.”