You know you’re in preseason mode when one of the most exciting things to note thus far about the Maryland men’s soccer team — besides their torrid preseason goal-a-game pace — is the new threads (or kits, for the football-literate) coach Sasho Cirovski’s boys sported today on Ludwig Field.
So while Thursday’s match against Villanova wasn’t exactly a delightful display of “the beautiful game,” it still had its share of good aesthetics.
Certainly among them was the game’s lone goal, a 20-yard left-footed volley from senior midfielder Drew Yates that found its way past a diving Chris Bresnahan. (“I don’t know where that came from,” joked Yates, a natural “righty.”)
Yates has played probably more or as many minutes as any of the team’s non-defenders, and if you ask him, he’ll tell you he wants this to be his team. More on that below as I empty out the notebook:
– Yates on his role with this Terps squad: “I want to be the playmaker of the team, the one that’s orchestrating the offense and the one that’s making the team come together on the field. I just want to be the man out there.”
– Sophomore midfielder Matt Kassell was a no-show on the pitch today, and he has a teammate to thank for that. SID Jodi Fick relayed the news to me that Kassell caught an elbow to his eye in practice from freshmen midfielder Widner Saint Cyr, requiring 19 stitches and a short leave of absence from any competitive action. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be good to go for the home openers next week against UCLA and Cal, but I’ll keep you updated. Saint Cyr took over for Kassel’s spot as the center midfielder, which leads me to…
– Nine of the team’s 10 true freshmen got game action tonight, and three — defenders Ethan White and Taylor Kemp, not to mention Saint Cyr — got starting nods. The only Terps not to take off their practice jerseys? Late additions Kevin Dansky and Gonzalo Frechilla.
– Cirovski singled out forward John Stertzer, midfielder London Woodberry, and all-around utility guy Jordan Cyrus (“I’ve played him seven places already in a couple weeks,” Cirovski said) as some of the other true freshmen really starting to come around.
– Expect to see a festive pregame itinerary for Friday’s season opener against UCLA. According to Fick, Under Armour is pulling out all the stops for the team’s return to Ludwig Field. This year’s free goodies, while they last, are reportedly Maryland scarves. Now, no one in College Park really needs a scarf for 78-degree-plus-humidity September evenings, but if there’s enough to go around to simulate a miniature Heinz Field or Liverpool’s Anfield, it will have done it’s job.
We’ll be rolling out a season preview on Monday and a Terps-in-the-pros feature later in the week, so keep clicking refresh on the new, super-sexy diamondbackonline.com.
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.