Match Preview: Maryland vs. Bowling Green

Maryland (1-6-2) vs. Bowling Green (5-3-3)

October 7, 2023

Ludwig Field

7:00 p.m.

B1G+

COLLEGE PARK, MD - The Maryland men's soccer team hosts Bowling Green at Ludwig Field on Saturday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the match will be streamed on B1G+.

Match Day Promotions:

Senior Day: The Terps will honor its senior class in a pregame ceremony.
Alumni Night: Maryland men's soccer alums will be honored in a halftime ceremony.
Mini Soccer Ball Giveaway: The first 100 fans will get a mini soccer ball.
Beer Garden: beer will be served at the beer garden in the corner of Ludwig Field nearest to Maryland's bench.

setting the stage

Maryland and Bowling Green will face off for the first time in men's soccer this Saturday. The Falcons are in their first season playing in the MVC after moving from the MAC in men's soccer. The Terps faced off with MVC power Missouri State in the opening match of the season.
Maryland will celebrate Senior Night on Saturday night. Five seniors will be honored: Jamie Lowell, Kento Abe, Alex Nitzl, Stefan Copetti and Seungeon Kim.
The Terps are coming off a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Rutgers on Tuesday night. Max Riley scored the lone goal for the Terps, who outshot the Scarlet Knights 20-7, but were unable to get a goal to even the contest despite a flurry of second half chances.
The Terrapins enter the 2023 season following a 2022 campaign in which they won the Big Ten Regular Season Championship and made the NCAA Tournament for the 40th time in program history. The Terrapins boasted an 11-4-5 record and went unbeaten in conference play (4-0-4).
Bowling Green is coming off a scoreless draw with Detroit Mercy on Tuesday night.
The Falcons ended their September schedule by scoring a combined seven goals in wins over Bradley (3-1, Sept. 23) and Evansville (4-2, Sept. 30). Sophomore Trace Terry had four of those goals, scoring twice in each game.
The Falcons were picked to finish third in the MVC standings in their inaugural season in the conference. The Preseason All-MVC Team included Brendan Graves and Alberto Anaya.

Forward Max Riley (12)Maryland Terrapins vs. Rutgers University at Ludwig Field in College Park, MD on Tuesday October 3, 2023.

Max Riley scored Maryland's lone goal against Rutgers.

Meet the 2023 Terps

The Terrapins return a group that includes four returning starters and five key contributors. They also add 10 freshmen and a transfer.
Maryland will be led by senior captain Alex Nitzl, a three-year starter and the men's 2022 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner for Maryland. Last year, he started all 16 matches he played and recorded four assists. He was also an Academic All-Big Ten selection. The Munich, Germany native enters 2023 with 39 starts and will be featured as a midfielder or on the back line. Read more about Nitzl.
Fellow senior Stefan Copetti will anchor the Terps' attacking set up. The Canadian (6g/3a in 2022) is a Big Ten Player to Watch after scoring Maryland's most important goal of 2022, a final minutes header that clinched the Big Ten Regular Season Championship for the Terps on the final day of the regular season.
Senior Jamie Lowell will step in between the sticks following the departure of All-Big Ten pick Niklas Neumann, Lowell has made 18 starts as a Terp and will be backed up by a pair of talented local keepers in Mikah Seger and Saxon Wolcott.
Bjarne Thiesen, a 2021 All-American at WVU, headlines Maryland's back line. He will be joined by fellow center back William Kulvik, who was named a Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week twice last season, left back Luca Costabile (2022 Big Ten All-Freshman Team) and right back Kento Abe, the Terps standout player in their foreign tour to Portugal.
The combination of sophomores Brian St. Martin, Mack DeVries and freshman Joe McDaid will give the Terps cover at center back. Freshman Tyler Prebenda, who enrolled in the spring, will factor in as an outside back option, along with Dalton Hass.
Maryland's midfield will be anchored by Nitzl and sophomore Albi Ndrenika, who came on late for the Terps with a pair of goals in the NCAA Tournament in 2022. Redshirt junior Joe Suchecki provides experience for the Terps in midfield having played 30 matches in his career. Speaking of experience, Justin Harris and his 60 career matches returns for a fifth season as an option in the midfield and attacking wide positions for the Terps.
A number of younger players will factor in to the midfield for Maryland. Sophomore Matias De Jesus, and freshmen Jack McDaid, Kenny Quist-Therson, Leon Koehl, Cameron Gerber and Henrik Sakshaug will all battle for minutes at the position.
Joining Copetti in the more advanced positions is a pair of sophomores in Colin Griffith and Max Riley, who both tallied game winning goals for the Terps last season. An infusion of freshmen in Kimani Stewart-Baynes and Luke van Heukelum gives the Terps new looks in the attack. Senior and former JUCO All-American Seungeon Kim gives Cirovski another experience option up top.

Senior captain Alex Nitzl is among Maryland's influential players.

Sensational Sasho

Hall of Fame head coach Sasho Cirovski is on the sidelines for his 31st season as the head coach of the Terps. Cirovski has led the Terps to a trio of national titles (2005, 2008, 2018) and 16 conference titles.
Cirovski was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2022 after leading Maryland to its first conference regular season title since 2016.
Cirovski's 29 NCAA Tournament appearances rank him first in the history of NCAA Division I soccer (27 at Maryland, two at Hartford). He has guided the Terps to nine appearances in the College Cup.
Cirovski has won 452 matches and is the second winningest active coach in Division I. He has the 13th-most wins in Division I history.

Sasho Cirovski, one of the greatest coaches in NCAA men's soccer history, captured his 16th conference title last season

Sustained Success

Maryland has made 22 straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, the second longest active streak in the nation, and has made 40 appearances in the NCAA Tournament overall.
The Terps have won four national titles (1968, 2005, 2008, 2018) in school history and reached the round-of-16 in 19 of the last 29 years.
Maryland is 61-32-8 all-time in its 101 NCAA Tournament games, the 61 wins is fifth all-time in Division I history.
The Terps are 48-21-7 under Sasho Cirovski in the NCAA Tournament. The Terrapins have won three national titles since 2000, tied with Stanford and Indiana for the most in the nation in that span.
The Terps have won six total Big Ten trophies since entering the league in 2014. The Terrapins captured the 2022 Big Ten Regular Season Championship on a dramatic final day of conference play. Stefan Copetti's 87th minute header gave the Terps a 1-1 draw against Indiana and lifted them to the title.
The Terps finished the conference season unbeaten for the first time since 2016, which was also their last Big Ten Regular Season title.

Maryland is among the best program's in men's college soccer history, capturing three national titles, the last coming in 2018.

World travelers

The Terps enter the 2023 fall season following a spring season in which they traveled to Portugal for a 10-day tour of the country in March.
The Terps explored the historic cities of Porto and Lisbon. They also played matches against reserve/youth sides of Vitoria S.C., Braga and Benfica.
To read more about the Terps' trip to Portugal, check out the Terps in Portugal daily blog.

The Terps took a 10-day trip to Portugal, highlighted by three matches and cultural immersion experiences.

A legacy of excellence

Maryland is the preeminent producer of professional soccer talent among college teams in the United States. Maryland is the only school with alums that have been rostered in the last four FIFA Men's World Cups.
Seven players have been named to FIFA World Cup squads: Dayne St. Clair (2022, Canada), Rodney Wallace (2018, Costa Rica), Omar Gonzalez (2014, USA), Graham Zusi (2014, USA), Maurice Edu (2010, USA), Clarence Goodson (2010, USA), Desmond Armstrong (1990, USA).
22 Terps have appeared for full national teams. Four Terps have appeared in the Olympics. Thirteen Terps have appeared for the US Men's National Team.
Maryland has had 53 players selected in the MLS SuperDraft, including three No. 1 overall selections, since the league's inception and has become the best producer of professional soccer talent in the United States among men's college programs.
Head coach Sasho Cirovski has developed seven MLS homegrown signees, eight MLS All-Stars, six MLS Best XI selections and winners of all of Major League Soccer's major individual awards.
Maryland currently has 12 alums playing in MLS and 22 alums playing professional soccer at various levels worldwide.

2018 national champion Dayne St. Clair, pictured at the 2023 Gold Cup, was Maryland's last player to be included a FIFA Men's World Cup Roster.

Ludwig Field

Since its opening in 1995, Ludwig Field has been the home of the Terrapin men's and women's soccer teams.
The Terps routinely rank among the top-five in the nation in attendance, including ranking No. 1 in attendance in 2016 and 2019.
Friday Night Light matches at Ludwig Field has become the best home environment in the nation. The since 2010, the Terps have had ten crowds of over 7,000 in those big stage affairs.