During Sasho Cirovski’s 29-season tenure as Maryland men’s soccer head coach, fans of the program have developed high expectations.
Having led the Terps to three national championships and 15 conference titles across the ACC and Big Ten, the program has become a perennial contender and respected as a powerhouse of collegiate soccer.
Given this, its results in 2023 were even more surprising. The team won just four games, its lowest total in a full season since Cirovski’s first year in charge when it won only three games.
One explanation for the lackluster year was the team’s inexperience, as it was laden with 18 freshmen and sophomores. The Terps — who enter the season unranked in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll — will attempt to return to winning ways this fall.
Key losses
One of the Terps’ biggest bright spots during their lackluster 2023 season was the play of freshman Kimani Stewart-Baynes. Stewart-Baynes won Big Ten Freshman of the Year, scoring three goals and recording seven assists. Unfortunately for Maryland fans, they won’t get the opportunity to see him build on this success, as he departed for the Colorado Rapids via the MLS SuperDraft.
The Terps also lost a couple of contributing players to the transfer portal, as goalkeepers Jamie Lowell and Mikah Seger both departed. The two split time starting in 2023, with Seger making 24 saves and Lowell making seven.
Midfielder Joe Suchecki was also a consistent member of the rotation over the last two seasons, tallying three goals and an assist in his Maryland career. He departed for conference rival Northwestern.
One benefit of a relatively young roster is that the Terps didn’t lose an excess of players to graduation. Still, Maryland will miss a pair of important players in Stefan Copetti and Kento Abe. Copetti, who scored five times in his senior campaign, was the leading goalscorer of a Maryland offense that struggled to generate chances. Meanwhile, Abe was a consistent member of the Terps back line.
Top returners
Cirovski will maintain continuity at the heart of the team’s back line as both Bjarne Thiesen and William Kulvik will be back in 2024.
Returning with them to the back four will be the team’s regular left back from 2023 Luca Costabile.
On attack, the Terps will expect big things from sophomore Luke Van Heukelum, who began to break out at the end of his freshman year. Van Huekelum notched four goals and five assists, almost all of which came in the season’s last five games. Forward Max Riley will also return for his junior season. He found the net four times in 2024 and tallied two assists
In the midfield, Maryland will bring back Leon Koehl, Alex Nitzl and Kenny Quist-Therson, all of whom saw significant playing time in the middle of the pitch in 2023. Nitzl will captain the team for the second straight season.
Newcomers
Cirovski went to work on both the recruiting path and the transfer portal following last season’s disappointments.
Looking to bolster his attack, he added Max Rogers, an Australian first-team All-Ivy League standout who scored four goals and assisted on seven more for Yale last season. Cirovski also brought in Ugandan NAIA product Sadam Masareka, who scored seven goals for Lindsey Wilson last season.
The Terps also added two goalkeepers to replace the two that left. One is Hudson Blatteis, who had an impressive last season at Brown. The other is Laurin Mack, a freshman who previously played in Germany’s third division. Mack has been the starter in Maryland’s preseason exhibition matches.
To help reinforce the back line, Maryland brought in local highly-touted freshman Jace Clark, who was a member of DC United’s youth academy and made appearances for the team’s USL affiliate Loudon United.
Looking ahead
Like everyone else, Cirovski and the Terps will be adjusting to life in the new Big Ten in 2024. They have four teams currently ranked in the D1 United Soccer Coaches preseason top 20 on their horizon.
Maryland opens the season with a string of six nonconference opponents, beginning with UMBC on Aug. 22.
The Terps then play six-straight home games at Ludwig Field, starting with their first ranked test in No. 16 Georgetown. Maryland then faces Detroit, No. 13 Virginia, Brown and San Diego State.
Maryland opens conference play at home against Wisconsin before finally going on the road to see No. 7 Indiana and Northwestern.
The Terps will then face all Big Ten opponents the rest of the way with the exception of an Oct. 15 contest against George Mason. They will travel to new Big Ten foe Washington on Oct. 11 and meet No. 21 UCLA at home on Oct. 21.
Ultimately, Maryland will look to make 2023 just a mere bump in the road and attempt to get back to the apex of college soccer, where Cirovski has lived for the majority of his coaching tenure.
