From what I can tell, here are new faces coming to the program in 2017: GK Petr Janda (Baltimore Armour) D Ben Di Rosa (Bethesda SC) M Paul Frendach (Baltimore Celtic SC) M Eli Crognale (transferring in from Belmont) F Matt Di Rosa (Bethesda SC) F Eric Matzelevich (DC United) F Giovanni Vasquez (Bethesda SC) If you've got more, add them!
DC United's release mentioned that Fola Adetola signed with Maryland too. He's listed as a midfielder
Eryk Williamson in Orlando ... https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...amp-roster-prior-to-2017-world-cup-qualifying "The training camp will be held from Jan. 31-Feb. 10 in Orlando, Fla. Upon the conclusion of camp, Ramos will name the final roster of 20 players who will travel to San Jose, Costa Rica ... The World Cup qualifying tournament is scheduled to run from Feb. 17-March 5 ..." Williamson and several others on the (training camp) roster are still students. Do we know how these extended absences are handled?
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...ccer-from-becoming-irrelevant-.html?mobi=true Maryland's Sasho Cirovski fights to save college soccer from irrelevance FEBRUARY 11, 2017 10:37 AM EST
Made it! http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=29700&ATCLID=211476765 "Maryland men's soccer standouts Eryk Williamson {USA} and Dayne St. Clair {Canada} have been named to their respective U-20 National Teams ahead of the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Williamson is one of just two players on the {USA} roster to still be playing collegiately (Jeremiah Gutjahr, Indiana)."
Well, we are living in the post-truth era. Per the actual roster, I see ... GOALKEEPERS (2): Jonathan Klinsmann (University of California; Newport Beach, Calif.), JT Marcinkowski (Georgetown; Alamo, Calif.) DEFENDERS (7): Danny Acosta (Real Salt Lake; Salt Lake City, Utah), Marlon Fossey (Fulham F.C.; Surbiton, England), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.), Aaron Herrera (New Mexico; Casa Grande, Ariz.), Erik Palmer-Brown (Sporting Kansas City; Lee's Summit, Mo.), Tommy Redding (Orlando City SC; Oviedo, Fla.), Auston Trusty (Philadelphia Union; Media, Pa.) MIDFIELDERS (6): Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; Wappingers Falls, N.Y), Luca de la Torre (Fulham F.C.; San Diego, Calif.), Jonathan Gonzalez (CF Monterrey; Santa Rosa, Calif.), Jeremiah Gutjahr (Indiana University; Bloomington, Ind.), Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake; Park City, Utah), Eryk Williamson (University of Maryland; Alexandria, Va.) FORWARDS (5): Coy Craft (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Jeremy Ebobisse (Portland Timbers; Bethesda, Md.), Brooks Lennon (Real Salt Lake; Paradise Valley, Ariz.), Jonathan Lewis (New York City FC; Plantation, Fla.), Emmanuel Sabbi (UD Las Palmas; Libertyville, Ill.) http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...yer-roster-for-2017-concacaf-u20-championship ... five - not just two - members of the roster are listed by college affiliation. Thank you, Sandon. Any guesses what prompted an error of that magnitude?
The Spring schedule ... http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=29700&ATCLID=211511197 Solid from a competitive standpoint; disappointing from a (home) spectator's viewpoint.
And Friday's golazo ... Are you kidding me, Eryk Williamson? 😱 Chests it down and strikes from way outside the box.Pssst, @SportsCenter 👀 pic.twitter.com/BoqrVGot1O— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 4, 2017
Like the team, Williamson grew into the tournament. Now, he's got to make the World Cup roster. Hard to see him sticking around for the fall if he makes that team and plays well there. Even if he already turned down a HG offer from D.C.
So the team tweeted out the starting lineup from the Clemson game. Obviously no Williamson, and I have no idea who if anyone might be nursing an injury. St Clair, Smith, Pines, Stray, Campbell, Levee, Sejdic, Rozhansky, Kelly, Elney, Wild I'm really intrigued by the idea of Connor Smith and George Campbell at fullback.
Here's the team that started the 1-1 draw with Philly Union reserves this past Sunday: Back to the more familiar 4-4-2 diamond Sashoball instead of the 4-3-3 they tried against Clemson. Smith and Campbell at FB spots continues to be interesting.
Maryland puts out the official word on their recruits: http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=211529049&DB_OEM_ID=29700 Since I don't follow the preps much, I checked this list against the College Soccer News Top 150 players and it is pretty underwhelming. Not a single player ranked in the Top 50. The #14 ranking listed in the press release for Matzelevich, the highest rated Maryland recruit, is not a current rating. That was from a few months ago. In the current CSN ranking on their page now, he is #65. Giovanni Vasquez is #93, Matthew Di Rosa is #127 and that's that. By Maryland standards this is mediocre. College Soccer News has the overall class rated at #12. For a lot of other schools that would be great, but it is not going to win championships. Not when 1-2-3 are Stanford, UNC, and Wake Forest who are out there cleaning up. The Maryland class appears to be ranked based on quantity rather than quality. There are good players here that are going to help them. But is there a Graham Zusi, Omar Gonzalez, or a Jason Garey who won titles here? Doesn't look like it. Maryland should be OK in the short term given the return of Wild, Williams, etc. The starting lineup in the previous post looks solid. Beyond that? They will always have enough talent to make it to the tournament, especially now that they are in the B1G, which is inferior to the ACC. Making a run is another story as we saw last year.
By Maryland's standards, it is definitely an uninspiring class. That said, Sasho has earned the benefit of the doubt in terms of bringing in diamonds in the rough. Some of his most-accomplished players weren't that highly ranked coming in. I mean, neither Jason Garey nor Patrick Mullins were big national names when they were brought in and they won three Hermann trophies. Neither Graham Zusi nor Clarence Goodson were heavily recruited nationally and they both went on to make a US World Cup team. I have no idea if there's another late-bloomer, diamond-in-the-rough type in this class. But if any coach could get some, it's Sasho.
A big strong guy like Matzelevich might be the next Jason Garey or Patrick Mullins? I sure hope so! We'll have to keep and eye on that one. After Wild is gone, sooner or later they are going to need a bigtime goal scorer. Depending on diamonds in the rough is a roll of the dice. Especially when you have to get past the other teams recruiting better now. Stanford, UNC, Wake --- even Indiana seem to have gotten who they want. Not a whole lot of diamonds in the rough on their lists, as far as I know. btw, Graham Zusi and Clarence Goodson were not lightly recruited. Zusi was a Region III ODP and Goodson was on a U-17 club national champion, Braddock Road. It may have looked like they were not recruited heavily if they committed early but both were considered blue chip talent which proved to be accurate.
I feel like it's tough to compare recruiting rankings today versus ten years ago. The growth of the homegrown program, and especially now with USL teams in place, has changed the game. How many of the top 25/50 even make it to college these days, and of those that do, how many stick around for more than a year or two? I'm not Sasho, but I look at this class and I see a group that might be able to be the core for the next four years. It's almost all locals, so they should be familiar with what Maryland is all about and be more likely to want to spend four years in College Park. Fact is, other than on the backline, there's a log jam for playing time right now. If you're a top guy who only wants to spend a year or two in school, do you want to deal with that or go to UCLA/random ACC school where more immediate PT might be available/more attainable? If next year's class doesn't have a gamebreaker or two, then we can worry about what might be going on. This time, I think it's just a confluence of events.
Snore. He's just playing a numbers game. The incoming 2017 class so far has seven players. You can probably assume that number will go up between now and August with any additional commits, or transfers. A lot of foreign players are late commits. How many of the newbies are going to see the field? He doesn't need all of them now. He needs two or three at most to contribute early. The mathematical odds are he will get that. The rest can enjoy practice sessions and a great seat for the games. How many will ever play? Some will not and may transfer to other schools. It is a non-revenue sport so the fams don't make a stink online like they do when football or basketball loses players. As long as they keep getting to the tournament nobody will care. And since the B1G ain't the ACC that will not be a problem.
Ouch, that hurt, though I would have to agree for the most part. College recruiting is a numbers game, and you don't need all of your recruits to come good. In soccer you need a relative handful each year to maintain program momentum. Disagree that the bar is as low as just making the tournament, but if you're rooting for a coaching change - good luck!
This is a joke, right? Or are the Maryland fans as thin-skinned as their coach? He isn't going anywhere. He has the job for life. The bar is that low because at Maryland, wins and losses don't matter. The only thing they care about is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. That's the reason why they are in the B1G in the first place. That is also how the football coach, Ralph Friedgen got fired six years ago; he was 9-3 and league coach of the year, but it didn't matter because he didn't put butts in seats. The one thing Cirovski does better than anything else is put butts in seats. Do you think the number crunchers that run that dept. care how much he wins? As long as he can put 7,000+ fans in the stands for a regular season game, he can coach there forever. He could go 5-15 and they wouldn't care. It doesn't matter that programs like Stanford, UNC, and Wake Forest have surpassed Maryland. If you look at the last five years, Georgetown may have got passed them a bit although the Hoyas didn't do anything last year. This is Washington, DC and as Deep Throat said, you have to follow the money.