from mlssoccer.com

The University of Maryland announced on Friday morning that goalkeeper Zack Steffen will forgo his final two years of college eligibility in order to sign with German Bundesliga club SC Freiburg. The 19-year-old Steffen, a member of the US Under-20 team, leaves the Terps after two years as their starting goalkeeper. He is the first player since Robbie Rogers (2005) to leave the program for an overseas opportunity.

“My time at Maryland has been nothing short of spectacular,” Steffen told UMTerps.com. “I want to thank my coaches and my teammates for an amazing two years in College Park. While at Maryland, I’ve had a chance to develop both on the field and off and I am excited to take the next step in my soccer career. I’d also like to thank the fans – the best in all of college soccer – for their incredible support.”

Steffen, who stands at 6-foot-2, led Maryland to a pair of conference tournament titles in his two years in college. He played every minute of every match for the Terps, also leading them to two regular-season conference crowns.

My take–One day in the very near future Zack Steffen will be in the nets for TEAM USA.

 

I said on the Sports Maven Saturday –I would have rather played any team in the country other then UMBC. In thepsat 5 years every clash between these rivals have been intense nip and tuck battles. No exception Sunday night as the Terps dominated in the 1st half but slowly the game tilted toward UMBC and the scoreless dual was broken by a UMBC rebound shot with 22 minutes left.

“We are extremely gutted with the result today,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “I thought we played a very good first half but the game shifted in the second half and UMBC came out with some energy and had a little momentum. This game was going to take an effort goal and they ended up picking up a loose ball, we were unbalanced, and they put they found a way to get a goal in the back of the net.

“I have nothing but pride and great feelings about my team. I love them deeply. I feel deeply for all of them, especially my seniors.”

Sunday’s heartbreaker was the Maryland finale for seniors Alex Shinsky, Dan Metzger, Jereme Raley, Jordan Tatum, Dan Metzger, and Mikias Eticha. The class was vital in continuing the legacy of Terrapin soccer, notching an incredible 64-15-14 record in the last four seasons while capturing two ACC tournament and regular season titles, a Big Ten tournament and regular season championship, and notched back-to-back trips to the College Cup in 2012 and 2013.

Mael Corboz scored on a top-shelf, free kick from 20 yards to give the University of Maryland its first-ever Big Ten Tournament championship with a 2-1 victory against Indiana Sunday at Ludwig Field.

The Terps (13-5-3) won their third-straight conference title on Maryland soil after capturing the 2012 and 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament crowns in Germantown. Maryland will bring an 11-game unbeaten streak into the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament when the bracket is announced Monday at 1 p.m.

Freshman Christoffer Wallander-Ianev also scored for the Terps, notching his first career goal in the 42nd minute after earning a start for injured redshirt senior Jereme Raley.

Mael Corboz and George Campbell both notched goals as the top-seeded Maryland men’s soccer team defeated No. 8 seed Rutgers 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Big Ten Tournament Sunday at Ludwig Field.

Maryland (12-5-2) dropped Rutgers (6-12-1) for the second time in five days. The Terps will take a nine-game winning streak into Big Ten Championship, which begins Friday with a pair of semifinals at Ludwig Field at 1 and 3:40 p.m.

The Maryland men’s soccer team pushed its winning streak to three games with a 2-0 shutout of Lehigh Wednesday at a rainy Ludwig Field.

Mikias Eticha accounted for both goals as Maryland (6-5-2, 2-2-1 Big Ten) pushed its shutout streak to 270 consecutive minutes. The Terps have not surrendered a goal since an overtime heartbreaker at Northwestern on Oct. 5.

After being shut out in consecutive home matches for the first time since 2000, the Maryland men’s soccer team picked up a penalty kick tally in the 31st minute en route to a 1-0 victory against Dayton Friday night.

Maryland (2-3-2, 0-1-1 Big Ten) mustered a season-high 16 shots and, despite only notching one goal, dominated the run of play from the opening whistle. Dayton (3-3-1), an NCAA tournament qualifier a year ago, managed only five shots and one corner kick on the night.

After George Campbell was brought down on the far side of the box, Mael Corboz nailed the ensuing penalty kick, beating Dayton keeper Chris Froschauer to his right for a 1-0 lead at 30:41 It was Maryland’s first penalty kick attempt of the year and Corboz’s first as a Terrapin. from umterps.com

Four former Maryland men’s soccer standouts have been tagged to the 30-man preliminary United States Men’s National Team roster for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil in June, announced by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann Monday.

Maurice Edu, Omar Gonzalez, Clarence Goodson and Graham Zusi have all landed on the heralded roster. A total of 16 players in the pool attended college and no other program in the country boasted more than one player on the roster.

“We are thrilled to congratulate Maurice, Omar, Clarence and Graham on this outstanding accomplishment and we are ecstatic they will have the chance to represent the United States on soccer’s biggest soccer stage,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “It gives our program a great sense of pride to have four former players named to this star-studded roster and, on behalf of Terp Nation, we wish them the best of luck at training camp.”

The 30 players will begin reporting to pre-World Cup camp on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., on Wednesday. Klinsmann must whittle the 30-man roster down to 23 and submit his official World Cup roster to FIFA by June 2.

Senior forward Patrick Mullins put an exclamation point on arguably the most decorated career in Maryland men’s soccer history when he captured a second straight MAC Hermann Trophy Friday night.

The Missouri Athletic Club’s (MAC) Hermann Trophy is presented to the best female and male players in NCAA Division I soccer. The winners were decided by a vote of NCAA Division I soccer coaches that are current members of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), along with a weighted fan vote hosted at the MAC’s website hosted by LockerDome.

Mullins becomes the first Terrapin and the seventh player to win back-to-back Hermann Trophies, joining the likes of National Soccer Hall of Famer Al Trost (1969-70) and former U.S. Women’s National Team forward Mia Hamm (1992-93). Mullins capped his senior campaign with 46 points on 19 goals and eight assists. His point and goal totals are both tied for the fifth-highest single season records in Maryland history.

Mullins finished his career second in Terp men’s soccer history with 47 goals and 119 points. He is a two-time First Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference player; a two-time All-ACC Championship Most Valuable Player; a two-time NSCAA All-American; and a 2013 College Cup All-Tournament Team honoree. Mullins led the Terps to a nation-best 13th straight NCAA Round-of-16 in 2013, and captured the ACC regular season and tournament titles for the second consecutive season.

Today was a very tough day for any Terrapin fan especially ones like myself who follow the soccer program so closely. 3 handballs in a one game and all of them missed by the referees? Are you kidding me? Then to hear Patrick Mullins admit to using his hand to help his 1st goal and emotionally apologizing for doing so was heartbreaking. But what a totally classy and honest admission by Maryland’s superstar.  Here are his comments and Sasho’s post game.

On the play leading to his goal: (Patrick)

“That was definitely a crazy play. A lot of things happened in a short period of time. From what I can remember, a cross came in, our player – I’m pretty sure [Alex] Shinsky – had a great shot. It did hit the kid’s hand on the line, it bounced out, came back out and I made a mistake on my part. I’m very disappointed in myself for doing that, but in the heat of the moment, I hit it down my hand, and like any good forward, I put it in the net. That’s not who I am, and I’m very disappointed in how that play resulted. All I can control is my actions, and I’m not happy with that action. It’s definitely hard for me to swallow because I don’t think that’s the type of player I am. Obviously the referee is a great referee, and I’m sure he’ll look back unfortunately on that play, too, because it was just a lot of plays that I’m sure players and refs will want to take back. I will regret that one for the rest of my life, but I’ll move forward. People make mistakes.”

On Patrick Mullins and his admission to a handball: (Sasho)

“When we build my stadium, we’re going to bronze a statue of him in the front because he’s made of the best stuff on Earth. It affected him. It affected him a lot after that moment. We had some good talks. I think he tried to push through, and I think he did push through in true Patrick Mullins fashion. But it did affect him because he is as good as it gets. He is a very tough person, as we’ve seen throughout the year. His conscience was hurting. He put too much on himself. There were many players that had intentional handballs in the game. It’ll be a learning lesson for him, but his character shining through is worthy of a championship. He’s a special person. He represents our program well.”

Neither guilty Notre Dame player admitted their guilt but it was all there on the videotape. Here is the bottom line: the most blatant violation  was committed by Notre Dame before Patrick’s goal. Play should have been halted, Maryland awarded a penalty kick, and guilty player ejected from the contest.  Maryland would have been a man up for the game. But pathetic efforts from the refs changed the course and possibly the outcome of the game.

As I watched Patrick in the 2nd half, he just didn’t seem to be himself. Obviously he was affected by the play. Patrick will one day be in Maryland’s Hall of Fame, play for the USA and possibly even play in the premier league. He is that good of a player and one of the finest young gentlemen ever to wear the Maryland colors.

At the end of the day Notre Dame’s superior size did the Terps in. Goalie Zack Steffen was voted the most outstanding defensive player of the tournament. Hats off to Sasho and his guys for another tremendous season —- ACC Championship and the National runner up is a great season. But Terp Nation is still sick to its stomach today.

It was only a 90 drive to PPL Park in Philadephia but the ride home seemed much longer. The whole ride home my dislike for the ACC weighed on my mind.

 

 

Patrick Mullins scored two spectacular goals to lead the Maryland men’s soccer team past rival Virginia 2-1 in the 2013 NCAA College Cup semifinals at PPL Park Friday night.

The Terrapins (17-3-5) will advance to their sixth national title game against Notre Dame on Sunday. Zack Steffen backed up Mullins with an outstanding night between the sticks, stopping five Cavalier shots.   

After an even start, Mullins opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a beautiful 20-yard chip. Mikias Eticha served a ball over the top that Mullins latched onto and flicked above an onrushing Calle Brown for his 17th goal of the season.

Head Coach Sasho Cirovski

 

Senior Patrick Mullins was involved in both goals as the No. 8 Maryland men’s soccer team defeated No. 23 Tulsa, 2-1, at Ludwig Field Tuesday night.

The Terrapins (4-2-3, 3-0-1 ACC) dominated play against the Golden Hurricane (5-4-1) for most of the night. Mullins and freshman Michael Sauers sparked a Terrapin offense that outshot Tulsa, 16-11, and earned 10 corner kicks.

 

Sophomore David Kabelik’s second half equalizer salvaged a 1-1 draw for the No. 8 Maryland men’s soccer team against Old Dominion at Ludwig Field Tuesday night. The Terrapins (2-2-3, 2-0-1 ACC) controlled possession for most of the game, but had a tough time breaking through a stingy Monarch (3-2-1) defense. Freshman Alex Crognale’s own goal gave ODU its only tally.

I was at the game last night and certainly felt the same frustration Sasho did.The Terps dominated virtually the entire game but just could not score. Ups to the crew who for 2 hours of game time never stopped singing and chanting.