By Emily Olsen
https://soundcloud.com/wmucsports-com/terps-mens-soccer-gears-up-for-ncaa-tournament
Every four-year college athlete who has stepped into Maryland men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski’s world after 1994 has made it to an NCAA College Cup final.
That breakdown looks like three Sweet Sixteen finishes, three Elite Eight finishes, five semifinals and three finals for the 24-year veteran head coach. Cirovski has only missed out on two NCAA tournaments (1994 and 2000) in his time at the University of Maryland.
“Coming to a program like this, you really expect to be in the hunt every year,” redshirt senior goalkeeper Cody Niedermeier said.
Hot off their fifth consecutive conference title (two ACC, three Big Ten) last Sunday in Westfield, Indiana, Cirovski and company host Providence this Sunday at 5 p.m. at Ludwig Field. It may seem hard to run around winning games with all that hardware weighing you down, but the Terps are eager to rise to the challenge that comes with that massive target on their back, Cirovski said.
“It doesn’t really matter who we play,” Niedermeier said. “People are going the try to get something out of us. Whoever we get on sunday, they are going to get our best effort and the most respect we can give them and the game.”
“If you don’t perform as good as you can, you just get knocked down and this whole season is over,” leading goal-scorer Gordon Wild said. “We are aware of that. We are not naive about that, and I am 100 percent sure we will raise our whole level to an even higher level than we had all season.”
Maryland last won the National Championship in 2008. The Terps also won a national title three years prior in 2005. Cirovski sees multiple similarities between those two championship teams and his current team, specifically in his defense.
“In 2008, we had three seniors in the back; this year we have three seniors in the backline,” Cirovski said. “That is an area of strength for us. They haven’t always shown it, but i think that’s going to come back going into the playoffs. Strong leadership, strong backline and having at least one or two players that can find a way to score. Certainly with Gordon Wild, DJ Reeves, Sebastian Elney, and guys like George Campbell and Eryk Williamson, we have guys that can score.”
Maryland finished the 2016 season undefeated for the first time since 1968 — the Terps captured their first national title that year — but undefeated has not meant unscathed for Maryland.
In the final stretch of the season, the Terps took four of the last eight games to overtime, scraping out wins after lazy defensive performances. Despite having Wild, one of the top goalscorers in the nation, Maryland lacks a strong finish. But the two-time national champion coach has come to accept his No. 1 team’s resilient identity instead.
“I wish we had a little bit more killer instinct,” Cirovski said. “But this is who we are and I love our group. We always seem to have another level. When we need it, we seem to always respond in a good way.”
Maryland men’s soccer by the numbers
