Maryland Welcomes 2005 National Championship Team Back to Ludwig Field

On October 24th, the Terps will host the Indiana Hoosiers and members of Maryland’s 2005 National Championship roster that saw Sasho Cirovski and the Terps reach the peak of college soccer after previous quests fell just short. 

“The 2005 team was the team that put the flag on top of the mountain,” Cirovski said. “It was the goal when I got here. It was just amazing.”

Now, 20 years later, members of that special team will be honored at Ludwig Field in a heroic return to College Park. Ahead of the match, Maryland Athletics was able to catch up with some of the alumni that will be in attendance on Friday. 

“The best years of my life playing ball were in College Park,” defender Kenney Bertz said. “I was fortunate enough after Maryland to go on and play professionally for four years in New York and Germany, but none of it compared to playing in front of the home fans at College Park.”

Bertz described the upcoming reunion as a “catalyst for a lot of us to reconnect”. He said his time at Maryland taught him crucial leadership skills he used in professional soccer as well as with his current job as a police supervisor in Ohio.

Also returning to Ludwig Field will be 2005 Hermann Trophy Winner Jason Garey, who tallied a whopping 22 goals and 51 total points during Maryland’s championship season.

“I’m excited to bring my family back and all my kids back,” Garey said. “I haven’t been back that often since we left. I’m excited to see all my old teammates. It makes me feel really old that it was 20 years ago, but such is life; it keeps marching on.”

While his impressive season cemented him into Maryland’s Hall of Fame in 2018, the credit for his successes went to his teammates. 

“It really comes back to all the guys,” Garey said. “My job was to try to score the goals, but the guys around me, from goalkeeper to the front, I was surrounded by tremendous soccer players. It kind of made what I did easy. I felt very fortunate to be with that group of guys.”

It was a squad that had faced and overcame massive adversity and challenges. The three previous seasons had all ended in Final Four losses as Maryland repeatedly came up just short of eternal glory.

“We had setbacks and had to work very hard to overcome things,” Garey said. “To finally win a national championship, especially for our senior class, was something that was very special because we had failed the three previous years in the Final Four. To be able to finally get to that place does a lot for the confidence for the rest of your life.”

Maryland’s head coach recalls that championship being the only time he’s cried “tears of joy” during his tenure in College Park. The Terps’ 1-0 win over New Mexico in the championship match meant so much more than a chance to vie for a trophy.

“By winning the championship in 2005, it made the other years more rewarding. It made the journey exemplary. It really allowed this program to have a seat at the table of the best programs in the country.”

A huge piece of that roster was its impressive freshman class. One of its members, goalkeeper Chris Seitz, reflected on how the incoming talent helped the Terps get over the elusive championship hump.

“It was a good group of guys,” Seitz said. “The freshman class was a lot of fun that year. You could find guys in the locker room just hanging out between classes. We had a lot of dedication to the sport but also the program. It was a team and a group that had a like-minded goal: putting the best product on the field on a weekly basis.”

His freshman roommate was Michael Marchiano, who currently serves his alma mater as its women’s soccer coach.

“Talking to him, bumping into him, hearing the stories he has and the passion that he still has for the badge definitely resonates with how much he learned in his time here,” current senior Albi Ndrenika said. “It’s not only that you get better at soccer. You become a better person and you learn values and morals that you take with you for the rest of your life. It’s more than just championships.”

Seitz has returned to College Park over the years for various events and alumni golf tournaments, but will bring his family to a match at Ludwig Field for the first time on Friday. 

“I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit that I haven’t been back to a game,” Seitz said. “I’ll have my five kids with me and it'll be cool for them. They all play soccer at different levels, so for them to come back and see a game will be fun.”

Another member of Seitz’s freshman class, defender AJ DeLaGarza, won a pair of championships at Maryland before enjoying a lustrous MLS career with the LA Galaxy.

“I can’t believe I’m already this old where I’m having a 20-year anniversary,” DeLaGarza said. “That year was a pivotal moment in my career. I think tasting that success as a freshman really drove me for the next three years of my career.”

He reflected on a time where Cirovski was considering redshirting him in his freshman season. DeLaGarza told him “no way” and went on to be one of the first guys on the team to truly solidify a starting role. 

The 2005 roster played at a time where The Crew was truly taking form and creating the Terps’ home environment that’s now recognized across the country. 

“Talking with other players that played at other schools said the hardest place to play was Maryland because of our fanbase,” DeLaGarza said. “The atmosphere that was there on weekends, it really did feel like a small English stadium with the crowd right there every step of the way. For me, it felt like a professional environment before I went on to play in professional environments.”

Maryland was undefeated at home in 2005 with an astounding 11-0-2 record at Ludwig Field. 

“Everyone was just so passionate about making Ludwig Field the hardest place to play in the country,” Bertz said. “We were fast. We were technical. We scored a lot of goals. We made it fun for fans to come watch us play.”

This season, the team is just as entertaining. The No. 8 Terps are undefeated through their first 12 matches for the first time since 2017 and showing remarkable resemblances to the 2005 championship squad. 

“The championship culture at Maryland means everything to me,” current junior Kenny Quist-Therson said. “As a Maryland guy, we always heard stories about how well this program has done. When I was getting recruited by Sasho, he told me the best guys in Maryland come here to win championships.”

Cirovski said this year’s roster shares a depth, hunger and culture that existed within the 2005 locker room. The 2025 team is a special group, just like that championship team from 20 years ago. 

“The lineup was stacked, the depth was insane and, obviously, the results came with it,” Seitz said. “It was really cool.”

“It was a special place for all of us,” Garey said. “We had a great group of guys, both teammates and staff and everybody associated with the whole deal. It was a pretty good time of life back then.”

Along with preparing them for professional careers, Maryland helped the 2005 team grow as young men and be prepared for whatever life threw their way. 

“The infrastructure was really good for us at that time,” Garey said. “It felt like we had everything we needed to be successful and it was just kind of up to us to make it happen.”

The resources at Maryland have always been abundant for its student-athletes, something that wasn’t overlooked by the 2005 team.

“We had guidance counselors and we had academic counselors,” Seitz said. “There were a whole lot of resources to help us be successful in the classroom and the more you take care of business in the classroom, the easier it is to succeed on the field. The support staff was great. It was second to none.”

For Seitz and the rest of the Terps, that season was as rewarding a time as they come. 

“It was a moment where you realize that all your hard work is paying off,” Seitz said. “It’s a time that lets you know the program is headed in the right direction. It lets you know that the team you’re working with is at the highest standard, but for me, it was the confidence of knowing that I could play and win at the next level during my freshman year.”

Now, they’ll be back under the Ludwig Field lights, rooting on a team trying to build a lasting reputation like the one the 2005 squad cemented 20 seasons ago.