Trotting onto the pitch this year, Terrapin men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski will find himself accompanied by several new faces.

In less than a month following the 2009 season, Cirovski saw both of his assistant coaches leave to take jobs elsewhere.

Russell Payne, who spent six seasons under Cirovski’s tutelage, landed the head coaching job at Army in mid-December. Payne was Cirovski’s first blue-chip recruit for the Terps back in 1993 and went on to be a four-year starter in goal.

Just two days later, Cirovski’s other assistant coach, Rob Vartughian accepted the assistant coach/goalkeeper coordinator position with the Philadelphia Union of the MLS. Vartughian had spent the previous seven years with the Terps.

The pair of assistants helped lead the Terps to two ACC Championships, four College Cup appearances and two National Championships.

Following the departures, Cirovski went searching. He found Michael Dello-Russo and Brian Rowland. He also created another staff position called Director of Soccer Operations, hiring Matt Burke for the job.

“I got all three guys that I wanted,” Cirovski told Jonas Shaffer of the Diamondback. “They’re all ones I wanted and we didn’t have to go too deep into the search. They’re great. They’re terrific. They’re all relatively inexperienced in the coaching ranks, but I feel like it’s a perfect fit for the program myself because I can mold them into the Maryland way pretty quickly. They’ve already done a great job and the players love them.”

Here’s the description of each and what they will bring to the Terp in the 2010 season:

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For the next few weeks leading up to the Terrapin men’s soccer season opener against Michigan State on Sept. 3 in College Park, I will take an in-depth look at this year’s team and the upcoming season.

Today I look at the incoming recruiting class for the Terps. While College Soccer News hasn’t released it’s yearly top 40 recruiting rankings, chances are the Terps will find themselves somewhere near the top. Once again, coach Sasho Cirovski has brought in talent from across the country, and the world, to upgrade his roster.

The Terps return nine starters and 23 letterwinners after an Elite Eight finish last season, but several freshmen could find themselves competing for time when the team reports to College Park Tuesday.

Here’s the six-player 2011 class:

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And, boy, is it a doozy.

Get out your calendars and ready your markers, because there’s some good action any able-bodied Crew member will want to see:

Saturday, March 6: Crystal Palace USA
College Park, Md. (11 a.m.)

The Terps kick off spring with a match against Crystal Palace USA of the newly-formed North American Soccer League. The Catonsville, Md.-based club served as the old stomping grounds for new assistant coach Brian Rowland, who plied his goalkeeping craft for three years with the team in the United Soccer League.

As far as Terps go, the season opener will offer a first look not only at new assistants Michael Dello-Russo and Rowland, but early enrollees Patrick Mullins and Gordon Murie, as well.

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Darko, in studio. Photo courtesy of Kwame Darko.

College athletics is a year-round process. It takes up a lot of time.

Over his five-year career with the Terps’ men’s soccer team, Kwame Darko didn’t have many opportunities to explore his lyrical abilities.

So Darko, who started 12 games in 2009 and served as a valuable fill-in for left back Rodney Wallace in 2008, found time for his music whenever he could – at parties, in the spring offseason or on the team bus during road trips.

According to Darko, coach Sasho Cirovski would make him get up and start rapping for the team. Sasho’s a fan.

Now, with his career over, Darko is trying to find a job. He’s hoping to catch on with a team in the USL or overseas, but in the meantime, he’s found some time to get in a recording studio and put together a mixtape.

“Tangerine Tinted Sunglasses,” Darko’s 18-track mixtape will be released Saturday and available online, at Myspace and Facebook and other file-sharing sites. There will also be a release party Saturday, at the Ozio Restaurant & Lounge in Washington.

More from Darko after the jump:

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Up next in our continuing series of 2009 fall season reviews: men’s soccer. Enjoy.

Could Sasho Cirovski (left) be a candidate for the D.C. United job? Photo by Jaclyn Borowski/The Diamondback

It seems like a long shot, but Terrapin men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski’s name has been put out there as a possible replacement for Tom Soehn, who yesterday told United officials he did not want to seek a contract extension.

Soehn had just finished the final year of his current deal. United missed the MLS playoffs for the second straight season.

On his Soccer Insider blog today, the Washington Post’s Steven Goff put up a poll: Who should D.C. United hire? Cirovski’s name was included among 10 other options.

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The athletic department released a statement moments ago clarifying the status of Terrapin men’s soccer defender Alex Lee:

“On Saturday, Oct. 10, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Alex Lee was struck by a vehicle while crossing a street in the District of Columbia. Within minutes, he was transported to George Washington University Hospital where he was given first-class care. He has shown incredible progress over the past two days and is currently listed in stable condition. Alex will be out of practice and competition indefinitely. Currently, no timetable has been set for his return to the field. Alex is an important member of the Maryland Men’s Soccer team and has the full support of the entire Maryland Soccer family and athletic department. As this is a private matter, we will have no further comment while we continue to support and assist Alex, his family, and our student-athletes during this difficult and trying period.”

More to come on the blog and in tomorrow’s print edition.

Jonas Shaffer is The Diamondback’s men’s soccer beat writer. He can be reached at shaffer@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jonas_shaffer.

Abdill here, reporting from Durham, North Carolina — the city of medicine.  Really, that’s what the signs, all of them, say when you get into town.  I came here with photographer and part-time cabinet maker Jackie Borowski to report on tonight’s men’s soccer game against No. 14 Duke (and maybe make some cabinets), but, to distract you lovely readers from the sordid tale on The Diamondback’s site, I offer up the tale of the journey as well.  It was a long trip.

I should preface this by explaining that I don’t get out much.  The scenery in Durham isn’t anything to blog about — it looks the same as the rest of the eastern seaboard.  If you drove up and down Campus Drive for five and half hours, you’d be seeing the same sorts of trees and buildings and people would be speaking the same language as they do down here.  But the culture is different in the near-South.  You can smoke inside.  People drive with their mouths hanging open.  To my great relief, though, the water spins in the same direction when you flush the toilet.

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