Maryland Love Connection: Michael and Kelley Marchiano

On one of Michael and Kelley Marchiano's early dates, Michael sent an unsuspecting Kelley on a scavenger hunt that ended at McKeldin Mall, where he was waiting to take her out to dinner. 

"You know, I certainly had my reservations because I'm like, this guy is nice, but what's your game here?" Kelley said. 

Fast-forward 10 years, Kelley was sent to McKeldin for another scavenger hunt, guided by her former roommate and Maryland women's soccer player, Stephanie MacCormack. The hunt took Kelley back to several special places in her and Michael's relationship, including many stops in College Park. But this time, the hunt ended DC.

“The hunt ended at a hotel room in DC with just him down on one knee and ‘marry me' spelled out with rose petals on the bed,” remembers Kelley. “And, then he surprised me afterwards with a dinner with his family and he coordinated my mom and sister flying in from Texas to surprise me and help celebrate.”

"It was incredible. It's been almost 18 or 19 years we've been together, and I'm still waiting to find out what's wrong with him."

Kelley Marchiano (Pry) was a middle-distance runner for the University of Maryland's track and field team from 2007-10. She still holds multiple top-10 marks in program history, including times in the 800m, 4x800m, and the sprint medley relay. She currently works as a physician assistant at a MedSpa in the DMV area. 

Her husband, Michael Marchiano, was a defensive midfielder and a two-time team captain of the Maryland men's soccer team from 2005-08. He was part of the 2005 and 2008 National Championship squads under head coach Sasho Cirovski. Michael returned to his Maryland soccer roots and recently wrapped up his first season as an assistant coach for the Maryland women's soccer team. As announced on Dec. 9, he's now the head coach of the program. 

The pair first met during one of Kelley's first nights at Maryland, when a group of her track teammates met with some men's soccer players to hang out around South Campus. After hitting it off with Kelley, Michael recalled doing some 2000s-era social media investigating with his teammate. 

"Still to this day, I'm not big on social media, but I remember I had asked one of my teammates to look Kelley up on Facebook, and I started doing my research and figuring out what I could about her," Michael said. "[My teammate] ended up knowing her track teammate, so he went through her teammates to try to arrange a little double date."

Michael and Kelley dated throughout their student-athlete careers, aided by soccer and track's opposite competitive seasons. 

"I was able to be around for almost all of his home games, support him there and then hang out afterward," Kelley said. "We would spend a lot of time at each other's dorms and have dates at local restaurants."

Michael added, "It was a good balance, and I personally never felt like it was really difficult to manage. It was easy to support each other in terms of going to games, understanding each other's schedules, and waking up early and traveling for meets or away games."

Michael hung around the College Park area, playing soccer professionally for a Maryland USL team, interning at an athlete representation firm, and assisting his former Maryland squad. At the same time, Kelley finished her last year of undergrad. Then, when Kelley graduated, Michael was offered a coaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He invited Kelley to come along. 

"There was no long-term plan," Michael said. "At that point, I remember we had looked at maybe Kelley could do [physician assistant] school at Marquette. But we didn't have total clarity about what it looked like."

The couple only stayed in Milwaukee for six months before Michael got a great coaching opportunity at Army West Point back on the East Coast. However, the couple highlighted how vital that time living together was for their relationship.

"Both of us really loved our six months out there," Michael said. "I was always grateful to Kelley for joining me on that journey. I think that just cemented our commitment to each other. From then on, I think it was about forging a path together."

After a few years of living in New York and New Jersey, the Terp couple was destined to return to Maryland, where they've lived ever since.

Kelley and Michael finally tied the knot on January 16, 2016, at a destination wedding in Punta Cana, where family, friends, and former Terp teammates surrounded them. 

"Lots of Terps in attendance," Michael said. 

The couple fondly recounted spending quality time with loved ones and playing a lot of beach soccer. 

Kelley and Michael now have two kids. Mila, who's 6 years old, and Nico, who's 2 years old, enjoy visiting the University of Maryland to support their dad and the Terps. Despite multiple moves and job shifts, the Marchianos are grateful to be still involved at the place where it all started. 

"I had an amazing experience at Maryland," Michael said. "Still to this day, Kelley and I, and our family, live in Maryland and will for the foreseeable future."