COLLEGE PARK, Md. (and an MLS Stadium near you) - As College Park morphs into a Big Ten Championship playground this weekend, fans will gather at historic Ludwig Field to watch the Terps go for their 10th- straight victory Friday afternoon against Michigan State. The team's most recent legend,
Patrick Mullins, will be tracking the progress.
“Got my Big Ten Network, BTN2Go pass and I've seen virtually every minute this season,” said the two-time Hermann Trophy winner with a mix of pride and defiance to the notion that just because he graduated, he is no longer a Terp.
Only instead of ruling the campus pitch, he is now a fan.
Mullins, along with fellow alum Taylor Kemp, has enough to think about with his own professional career and looming postseason expectations. Including Mullins and Kemp, the Terps had seven former players in the postseason. AJ Delagarza, Omar Gonzalez and Robbie Rogers in Los Angeles, Chris Seitz at FC Dallas and Graham Zusi with Kansas City also qualified for extended MLS play. But they still have time to follow their alma mater, the place they developed the tools to get them to where they are today.
“That's one of the beautiful things about college in the Maryland program,” said head coach Sasho Cirovski. “You get to really push and challenge the guys here so that when they do go to the next level, it's not a very big jump, if at all.”
But even Mullins, who scored a combined 36 goals in his final two seasons with the Terps, needed to adjust to the skill level and extended length of season of Major League Soccer after he was drafted 11th overall by the New England Revolution. He uses his memories of playing in two Final Fours, including last season's national championship game, to try to gain an edge in crucial MLS games.
“I had some experience at Maryland where I was able to contribute to our teams there and come up big in some games,” said Mullins, “and I think it's the same mentality I bring into the Revs as we are on our playoff hunt right now.”
The Revolution defeated the Columbus Crew in a two-game set and will move on to face the New York Red Bulls on Nov. 23. Mullins started 14 of the 21 games he has played this season, notching four goals for his new squad.
Kemp is no longer in the postseason grind after D.C. United fell to the Red Bulls, but in the final game served a beautiful cross to teammate Nick DeLeon who headed it home. If they had advanced, he and Mullins would have met in different uniforms, epitomizing the Terps' continuous climb to the next tier of soccer.
“It's nice when guys come into the league, they see friendly faces either in their own locker room or on the opposing team,” said Cirovski.
Though moving on from college, Kemp and Mullins still make sure to text or email their former coach from time to time. Following a frustrating string of games that left the Terps searching for goals, as well as an identity, Maryland helped fuel their current win streak with a win over Penn State – ranked No. 3 at the time. Mullins saw the game and contacted the team.
“I pretty much sent him a little message saying that there was this period of the game in the second half…it was a 10-minute stretch where Penn State couldn't even get out of their own half,” said Mullins, “and I just sent him, I said, you should go look back at that 10-minute period because that's Maryland Soccer, the way you've always wanted it to be.”
Mullins said he also sends words of encouragement to guys like seniors Dan Metzger, Alex Shinsky and junior defender Mikey Ambrose on occasion.
“I think they've been doing a fantastic job with the team and I wanted to make sure that they knew that was noticed,” he said.
Kemp too has been very invested in the team's ups and downs this season. Maryland's rocky start reminded the All-ACC pick of his freshman year in 2009 in which the Terps had lost some players to the pros and had to cope through a mediocre start. But that team took control of their season, finishing 15-6-2, and Kemp believed this year's group would do the same.
“There were some guys in the [D.C. United] locker room here that were asking me, 'Hey man, what's going on with Maryland?' said Kemp. “I was like, 'Don't worry, they'll turn it around.'”
The faith the alumni have in the program not only stems from Cirovski's success in building a college soccer powerhouse since arriving at Maryland in 1993. It also comes from the established bonds among the tribe of Terrapins, past and present, which remains to this day.
“Still talking to [Graham] Zusi and Omar [Gonzalez] and A.J. [DeLaGarza] and all the guys that are out there,” said Cirovski. “I just got off the phone with Casey Townsend about half an hour ago, Schillo [Tshuma]'s here training with us today, Sunny [Jane] was training last week.
“We have a real family culture here. There's so much pride in the program and all the guys are very much interconnected through different generations.”
Ben Strack, a senior journalism major at the University of Maryland, is a contributing writer to umterps.com.
