Men's soccer's dream year ends steps short

After trying to explain something for which he had few words, Terrapin men's soccer coach Sasho Cirovski walked across the cold pitch at Ludwig Field by himself, surrounded by empty red bleachers and unfulfilled hopes.

He had built a seemingly perfect squad — one replete with a deep bench, seasoned backline, dominant goalkeeper and experienced and potent forward tandem. This was supposed to be the year the Terps won the program's fourth national championship.

But the 18-year coach, who knows nothing more in life than soccer, had to again admit how cruel the game that he loves so much could be sometimes.

His Terps, who put together one of the most impressive seasons in program history, were finished. In a 3-2 double-overtime thriller, Cirovski saw his team fall at the hands of an up-and-coming Michigan team.

The dreams of playing in Santa Barbara, Calif., for the College Cup abruptly came to an end. That there would be no next game for a team that had won 15 straight and tied the program record for shutouts was an unusual development.

"You try to find reasons, and it's very difficult," Cirovski said. "We didn't have any regrets with how we played. When you have that many close calls, hitting goal posts and crossbars, and none of them go in the net and you get stung the way we did, it's hard to take. That's the beauty and the cruelty of soccer all wrapped up in one — we just were on the wrong side of it."

Last week, Cirovski received a call from Akron coach Caleb Porter. His Zips had just secured their second straight College Cup appearance and a date with the Wolverines.

The Terps, Porter told Cirovski, were the one team they didn't want to play.

"We were at the very top of goals scored and the least amount of goals against," Cirovski said. "It was a phenomenal year."

The start of the season didn't go quite as planned, as the Terps lost in stunning fashion in overtime to Michigan State in their season opener in early September. A week later, they could only manage a tie at Boston College.

The Terps fell for a second time when they traveled to North Carolina later that month. The loss to the higher-ranked Tar Heel team on the road only propelled the team onward. The Terps wouldn't lose again for the remainder of the regular season.

They soon dispatched Duke, 2-0, in front of a record-breaking crowd at Ludwig Field, blanked then-No. 2 Connecticut, 1-0, just four days later and exploded in Blacksburg, Va., to score seven times against a hapless Virginia Tech squad.

The offense ranked among the nation's best for the remainder of the season, while the defense allowed just three goals in the final 10 regular-season games.

"This was a team that was fun to watch and fun to play on," Cirovski said. "We scored goals at a record pace. ... It was a very close-knit team."

The Terps took their winning streak, dominant attack and consistent defense down to Cary, N.C., where they avenged their earlier loss to the Tar Heels with a 1-0 ACC Championship victory.

After earning the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, they trounced Penn in the second round, 4-0.

But following their offensive masterpiece against the Quakers, the Terps' attack sputtered in a 1-0 win against No. 15 seed Penn State. Those struggles continued against Michigan on Dec. 4, when the Terps scored just two goals on a season-high 33 shots.

"Of probably the four games that were played in the [NCAA Tournament] quarterfinals, we probably dominated the game most and were the team that came out on the losing end," Cirovski said. "Our inability to put them away is just still at the forefront of my mind."

This year's roster seemed destined to reach college soccer's final weekend. But the unexpected loss threw the Terps' immediate future in flux.

The team will lose four senior starters in forward Jason Herrick, midfielders Billy Cortes and Doug Rodkey and defender Greg Young. Four others — forward Casey Townsend, midfielder Matt Kassel, defender Ethan White and goalkeeper Zac MacMath — could also be headed to the MLS SuperDraft.

Even with the potential loss of eight of 11 starters, Cirovski refused to call next year a rebuilding one.

"No doubt, the outlook is extremely bright and sunny," Cirovski said. "We're going to be really good. I mean really good."

Still, the pain of this year's shortcoming will weigh on the coach. Cirovski called the season-ending loss to Michigan the "most gut-wrenching and heartbreaking at Ludwig in my career." He's ended three of the past four seasons with a similarly poignant declaration.

The lone omission came in 2008, when the Terps won their third national championship. Anything less than titles fall short of Cirovski's standard of excellence.

"I'm a good sport and not a good loser," Cirovski said. "It just adds more fuel and more enthusiasm in pursuit of another championship. We'll see if we can accomplish that goal next year."

ceckard@umdbk.com