Finishing The Job: Maryland Men's Soccer Eyes NCAA Elite Eight Victory

Maryland men’s soccer sits three wins away from immortality. 

The Terps will face Washington in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight on Saturday. With a win, they’ll go back to the College Cup for the first time since 2018 — a season that saw Maryland at the pinnacle of collegiate soccer. 

This season’s been full of differences from years past. One stark contrast may be the intensity that senior midfielder Albi Ndrenika is playing with. 

“It’s the confidence that everyone within this team has in each other,” Ndrenika said. “Throughout the preseason and the whole season, we were constantly picturing ourselves being the last team standing.”

The Terps are hunting a legacy, and in order to do it, they’ll need a "psychotic" mindset to bowl over every pin in their way. 

“This season taught me that you kind of have to be a psycho to think that out of 200 some D1 teams that you’re going to be the one to win it all,” Ndrenika said. “That obsession has bled through a lot of people and especially through me.”

Ndrenika has four goals to his name this season, but they seem to come at the most crucial times. One came in Maryland’s last win over Washington on Oct. 31. Another found the net against UConn in a game the Terps would go on to win 3-0 to advance in the NCAA Tournament. 

Three of his four goals have ended up game winners, but Ndrenika says he doesn’t have a flair for the dramatic, he just rises to the moment. 

“It speaks volumes to the faith that the program put in me as well,” Ndrenika said. “The confidence it instills in me and the love that I get from everywhere makes me want to fight twice as hard.”

That fight is an extension of the work he’s put in to get his Terps back to a spot of greatness. Two years ago he was watching from the sidelines — removed for the season by an injury — as Maryland struggled and failed to win a conference match.

“Obviously, that year wasn’t us,” Ndrenika said. “We got really unlucky with injuries and penalty misses and all that. We were better than that on paper. Now, to be able to stick it to everyone that said, ‘Oh, Maryland soccer is done, the game’s outgrown Cirovski, he’s not what he used to be, Maryland’s not what it used to be, etc.’, you use that as fuel.”

He worked his way back into the lineup and into a spot to get Maryland in the national conversations that he knows it belongs in.

“Even as a recruit coming into Maryland, you kind of have that expectation that you’ll be at this spot year after year,” Ndrenika said. “So just that feeling of it eating us alive in those first three years, knowing that we haven’t been able to get there or hold up the standard has kind of been burning in a lot of us. The fact that we get to live it and put it on display this year means the world.”

His resurgence closely matches that of his program’s. Just two seasons after sitting in a valley, the Terps are approaching the peak of college soccer for the first time 2018.

“It was a matter of just taking things one day at a time,” Ndrenika said. “What can you control in the present? At that time it was just being the best teammate I could be and try to be supportive to everyone around me. Once you start getting healthy, it becomes about how I can help the team from a playing standpoint.”

Even as a senior, an old Terp can learn new tricks. Ndrenika credits two new faces — Lasse Kelp and Tristen Rose, the two main center backs — for showing him that there was another level of intensity that he still could reach. 

“It’s not really technical learning, but seeing how they operate,” Ndrenika said. “They’re both obsessed with what they do. The intensity and the love they have for what they do, it’s driven me so far. The intention behind every little action, it’s all you can see. That taught me that there’s a different intensity to reach.”

Ndrenika and the Terps have envisioned being back. They knew from the start of the season what they could accomplish, and they’ve been laser focused on getting there. With six ranked wins — and likely more to come — Maryland continues to push back adversity, never letting the stakes outweigh the moment. 

“Having that belief, you’re almost a psychopath because you full-heartedly believe that’s what’s going to happen,” Ndrenika said. “So no moment is honestly that big. You just focus on staying in the present and giving it your all and being obsessed with that. If you work harder than the person going against you, good things are going to happen.”

Now, the psychotic mindset spreads throughout the team. The confidence is contagious and the energy is an undeniable force. 

“It’s really fun because you’re all one,” Ndrenika said. “Everyone has the same mentality and intensity. There have been games where we played ranked opponents this year and dominated them. Being in those games where you just control it and they don’t have a lot of opportunities, it’s the best feeling in the world because you feel almost unstoppable.”

Three games from immortality. Ndrenika and his Terps have 270 minutes left in their quest for glory and they have the mindset needed to get there.