The Maryland men’s soccer team will face off with Virginia Monday night at DC United’s Audi Field in Washington D.C. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Storylines

• Maryland is 42-29-9 against Virginia all-time. The teams last played in 2015, with the Terps taking a 1-0 win on an Eryk Williamson goal in an NCAA Tournament matchup.
• The Terrapins will take on a ranked team for the third consecutive match to start the season. Maryland opened the season with a 2-0 defeat at then-No. 24 Washington before drawing 0-0 with No. 10 Stanford on Friday night.
• Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski begins his 26th season in charge of the Terps, and is one of just nine coaches at the Division I level to notch 400 wins. Cirovski has captured two national championships (2005, 2008) and has won 15 combined conference titles.
• Maryland returns second-team All-Big Ten centerback Donovan Pines, who leads a talented and experienced backline. Pines will pair with German junior Johannes Bergmann while senior captain Chase Gasper, who transferred from UCLA prior to the 2017 season, will feature at left back. Maryland went unbeaten when those three played in the backline last season. Sophomore Ben Di Rosa has started the first two matches at right back.
• Maryland’s back four is backed up by standout redshirt junior goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair. A Canadian Youth International, St. Clair was sensational in his first season as the fulltime starter in 2017 and was named one of the top-10 keepers in the country by Top Drawer Soccer heading into 2018.
• Samuels has flourished in the defensive midfield role throughout his career. Senior captain Amar Sejdic, a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2016, will look to return to form in his final season in College Park. Junior Eli Crognale, brother of former Maryland All-American and current Columbus Crew center back Alex Crognale, is also an option to start in the center of midfield. Crognale started against Stanford after coming off the bench in the season opening loss to Washington.
• Senior Sebastian Elney leads a talented Maryland attacking force. A former US Youth National teamer, Elney will slide back from a central forward role to play as a more attacking midfielder this season. Sophomore Eric Matzelevich will play in front of Elney while wingers Paul Bin and DJ Reeves gives the Terps a pair of speedy wide players that have the ability to put the ball in the back of the net.

Terps on TV

• Maryland will have at least seven contests broadcast on national television, including five on the Big Ten Network. Maryland’s first nationally televised contest of the fall wmade history as the Terps took on defending national champions Stanford live on FS1. The match was be the first Big Ten Olympic sport broadcast on FS1.
• The Terps are featured five more times on BTN throughout the fall, including a marquee non-conference match-up with UCLA (Sept. 7, 7 p.m.) and Big Ten contests vs. Wisconsin (Sept. 21, 7 p.m.), vs. Michigan State (Oct. 5, 7 p.m.), vs. Penn State (Oct. 23, 6 p.m.) and at Michigan (Oct. 28, 4 p.m.). Maryland’s seven national broadcasts lead all men’s soccer programs in the conference.
• All other home matches at Ludwig Field will be streamed live on BTN2Go.

Big Ten Preseason Honors

• Senior midfielder Amar Sejdic, redshirt junior goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair and junior defender Donovan Pines were named to the Big Ten Preseason honors list.
• Sejdic, a 2016 first-team All-Big Ten selection, is Maryland’s top returning assist man with four. Pines was a second-team All-Big Ten selection a season ago after being named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in his debut campaign.

Meet The New Guys!

• Top Drawer Soccer named Maryland’s incoming recruiting class the 12th best in the nation, continuing the program’s legacy of top rated classes. Frisco native Brayan Padilla (FC Dallas), the 58th ranked player in TDS’ rankings headlines the class with fellow ranked recruit Russell Shealy (102, Atlanta United) and MLS academy product Vinicius Lansade. All three have had success in the US Soccer Development Academy, with Lansade leading NYCFC to a U-19/18 title this year.
• Four Maryland natives feature in Maryland’s class; Justin Gielen (Baltimore Celtic), Nick Richardson (Baltimore Celtic), Brett St. Martin (Baltimore Celtic) and Craig Eichelberger (Baltimore Armour). The trio from Celtic are proven winners, with St. Martin helping the club win a US Youth Soccer U-19 National Championship prior to Richardson and Gielen leading the outfit to a U-18 crown.
• Maryland’s class is completed by a pair of international players; Slovakia native Richard Bedats and France native William James Herve. Bedats has a distinguished youth pedigree, captaining Slovakian youth sides from the U-15 to U-19 level. He chose the Terps over a number of national bluebloods including North Carolina, Indiana and Wake Forest.

Captains

• Dayne St. Clair, Amar Sejdic and Chase Gasper are the captains of this year’s squad. St. Clair and Sejdic are first-time captains while Gasper was named a captain midway through the 2017 season after transferring to Maryland from UCLA.

-Via Maryland Athletics 

Categories: Maryland

Tags: BIG10, Maryland, Soccer