Maryland men’s soccer head coach Sasho Cirovski sat in his office during preseason and raved about the depth of this year’s team, proclaiming it to be the deepest squad he’s ever had.
And it’s shown through four games.
With Colin Griffith and Leon Koehl — the team’s top two goalscorers in 2024 — slowly working their way back into the fold and to full health, it would be easy to assume the Terps have gotten off to a slow start. That’s been far from the case.
Maryland’s 3-0-1 record is its longest unbeaten
run in four years, and it was five minutes away from a perfect start.
The Terps have totalled 13 goals through the first four games, tied for the program’s second-most in the past two decades. Maryland netted 15 in 2012 before making a run to the NCAA Tournament semifinals and produced 13 in 2005 en route to a national championship.
It’s not just been one player shouldering the scoring load, though. The Terps have relied on a committee approach to generate the fifth-highest scoring offense in the nation (3.25 goals per game).
“We’ve suffered from a lack of depth over the past several seasons, and this year, we really have a lot of players who come off the bench that are just as good,” Cirovski said. “I think that depth is going to serve us well.”
Ten players have found the back of the net, led by a trio from Luke van Heukelum. Sadam Masereka is the only other multi-goal scorer with two.
Maryland’s assists per game total (5.0) is also the highest in the country by a good margin, 0.8 higher than the next closest team. An unexpected face leads the team in that area, freshman Rocket Ritarita.
The 18-year-old four-star recruit has sparingly seen playing action — 76 minutes spread across three appearances — but his impact is noticeable when he steps on the field. Ritarita has dished out a pair of assists in the past two contests, while also contributing his first career goal on Saturday. He was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
“He’s very mature already for his age and is a super good addition to our team,” Luca Costabile said. “I don’t think I’ve had this talented of a freshman in my four years here.”
Ritarita isn’t the only freshman from the Terps’ No. 3-ranked recruiting class to make an immediate impact. Farouk Cisse — a late addition to the group — leads the freshman class in minutes (181). Mateo Caride and Henry Bernstein have each netted a goal this season.
“I think this freshman class, you’ve seen what I call freshman plus,” Cirovski said. “Guys like Rocket and Henry played in the MLS Next Pro. … You’re seeing a lot of freshmen that are very experienced, very mature, that physically can handle it.”
Those two scores have been part of Maryland’s second-half onslaught. Leading by just one at halftime against Saint Francis and Pacific, the Terps erupted for a combined eight goals, including three in the final 15 minutes of each game.
“We do make adjustments [at halftime] because we get to learn a lot about ourselves and the opposition in the first half,” Cirovski said. “I also think you see the benefits of our depth this year.”
Maryland’s attacking variety has worn down tired backlines with their relentless pressure. Playing a possession-heavy style, the Terps have pinned their opponents in their defensive half and created chance after chance. Maryland has produced 56 shots in its last two games.
“Moving the ball, making them tired,” Costabile said. “Just breaking them down slowly creates more space for us to score more goals. We scored a ton of goals in the last 20 minutes of both games so it was very positive.”
This style of soccer doesn’t just allow the players to recover while in possession, it also forces opponents to stay mentally switched on for 90 minutes. When Saint Francis and Pacific tried to catch their breath, the Terps snuck behind their backline and capitalized on the defensive lapse.
However, Maryland’s depth isn’t only centered around its extensive roster. The Terps can score in a multitude of ways, making their attack hard to gameplan around.
Speedsters Njike and Masereka have shown the ability to deliver dangerous crosses from the wing or beat their defenders with pace to get inside the box. Masereka, Costabile and Albi Ndrenika have scored from long-range efforts.
While the Terps may be considered an undersized team — they have one player over 6-foot-3 — they’ve made it count from set pieces this season. Brian St. Martin and van Heukelum have each scored off a corner in the past two games.
However, it remains an area Cirovski hopes to improve upon.
“We’re getting more dangerous on our set pieces, which is something we need to do to be a good team,” Cirovski said. “We’ve adjusted a couple of things.”
Maryland’s offense has shown flashes of what it can do against mid-major opposition. Friday, it will be time to see if the Terps can translate that success to Big Ten play.
Last year’s late-season collapse in the Big Ten coincided with its lackluster attacking performances. If Maryland can maintain its high-powered offense throughout the lengthy conference schedule, this team has all the pieces to bring a trophy home to College Park in December.
