COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland men's soccer team returns to action Friday night against Wisconsin, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. at Ludwig Field. The game will be broadcast live on BTN.

The match occurs on Maryland's third annual LGBTQ Pride Night. The first 2,000 students in attendance will receive Pride Shirts, which come in versions that represent the six colors in the Pride Flag. Those students will participate in Maryland's Stripe the Stadium promotion.

Storylines

• Maryland is 7-1-0 against Wisconsin all-time, with the lone loss coming in the team's last meeting in the Big Ten Quarterfinals at Ludwig Field. The Badgers upended the Terps, 2-1. The Terps defeated Wisconsin in a 5-4 thriller in Madison during the regular season, with Amar Sejdic notched two tallies and Eyrk Williamson recording a hat trick. The Terps and Badgers represent the last four champions of the Big Ten Tournament, with Maryland winning from 2014-to-2016 before Wisconsin took the trophy in 2017. 
• Maryland opened Big Ten play with a come-from-behind victory over Northwestern on the road Friday night. After the Wildcats pulled ahead in the 61st minute, freshman William James Herve scored with just minutes left in regulation before notching the winner in the first overtime period. The tallies were the first of Herve's Maryland career. 
• After his performance, Herve was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. Herve was the first Terp freshman to score two goals in a game since Eryk Williamson in 2015. He was also an honorable mention selection to Top Drawer Soccer's National Team of the Week. 
• Maryland notched its first win of the season against West Virginia. Senior Amar Sejdic bagged the winner late in the match off a cross from Chase Gasper.
• The Terrapins two other results this season were draws with top-10 opponents. The Terps earned scoreless decisions with then-No. 10 Stanford and then-No. 7 Virginia. Maryland held the shot advantage in both of those contests. The Terps renewed their rivalry with Virginia at DC United's Audi Field, as the matchup was the first college soccer match played at the brand new venue. 
• 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. 
• Second-team All-Big Ten center back Donovan Pines has led Maryland's back line so far this season. Pines was an honorable mention selection to Top Drawer Soccer's Team of the Week on Sept. 3 after anchoring Maryland's sterling defensive efforts against Virginia and Stanford. Pines pairs with German junior Johannes Bergmann while senior captain Chase Gasper, who transferred from UCLA prior to the 2017 season, features at left back. Maryland went unbeaten when those three played in the backline last season. 
• 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. He tops the Big Ten and ranks 17th in the country with a .840 save percentage. He is third in the Big Ten with a .616 goals against average. 
• Senior Andrew Samuels has flourished in the defensive midfield role throughout his career and has played the spot for most of the season. Senior captain Amar Sejdic, a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2016, and junior Eli Crognale, brother of former Maryland All-American and current Columbus Crew center back Alex Crognale, have emerged as Maryland's primary pairing in the center of midfield. Sejdic has a goal this season. 
• Senior Sebastian Elney leads a talented Maryland attacking force. A former US Youth National teamer, Elney has notched an assist this season. Speedy wingers Paul Bin and DJ Reeves have featured heavily for the Terps this season while Maryland has also gotten attacking contributions from freshmen Justin Gielen and Vinicius Lansade. 

 
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 made 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.