No. 4 seed Maryland men’s soccer advances to NCAA quarterfinals; downs No. 13 seed UConn 3-0

Photo by Mackenzie Miles/Maryland Terrapins. Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics.

Maryland men’s soccer’s previous NCAA tournament game was intense.

The Terps won on penalty kicks with goalkeeper Laurin Mack, notching the game-winner. Saturday’s match against UConn was equally intense, but took a different form.

The two teams totalled seven yellow cards and two red cards, as No. 4-seed Maryland downed No. 13-seed UConn 3-0 at Ludwig Field in College Park. The win marks the first time the Terps have advanced to the quarterfinals since 2018.

The Terps (13-1-4, 8-0-2 Big Ten) entered the match without defenders Leon Koehl and Jace Clark, but remained extremely aggressive. Defenders Lasse Kelp and Tristen Rose held the backline, preventing the Huskies (12-5-4, 5-2-1 Big East) from getting anywhere near the goal. Maryland retained possession for 57% of the first half.

“Our goal was to get better defensively from the last game,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said, “Today you saw a team that was extremely committed to defending, which is what you need in championship elimination games.”

In the 25th minute, senior midfielder Joseph Umberto Picotto injured himself while passing the ball, causing forward Rocket Ritarita to enter the match. The freshman tallied the first goal in Maryland’s prior match against North Carolina — his first career postseason goal. On Saturday, Ritarita continued to make an impact.

Barely a minute after Ritarita entered the match, he attempted to score but was denied by goalkeeper Kyle Durham. The redshirt sophomore’s save bounced towards the right side of the goal, directly in front of senior midfielder Albi Ndrenika, who buried it in the net for his fourth goal of the season.

“I’m glad to get mine, and I’m glad that I was able to elevate the team as well,” Ndrenika said. 

Tensions continued to rise. 

In the 30th minute, the first yellow card of the game was given to Huskies’ leading goal-scorer Austin Brummett after a collision with Maryland forward Stephane Njike. Shortly after, Brummett then gained possession of the ball, and Ritarita fouled him on the possession.

Brummett collapsed and appeared injured, creating a series of pushes between junior defender Ayoub Lajhar and Ritarita. A scuffle ensued, leaving both Ritarita and Lajhar with yellow cards.

But the freshman did not allow that to affect him. Roughly eight minutes later, Ritarita weaved through a triage of defenders before ripping a shot past Durham near the top left corner of the box. The goal was his second postseason goal in as many games.

“It’s Maryland soccer, we just keep attacking,” Ritarita said. “We don’t want to lay back.”

Twenty minutes into the second half, Brummett attempted to gain possession of a ball approaching him and Kelp. Brummett aggressively knocked down Kelp, causing the clock to stop and a red card to be issued– ejecting the senior. A series of yellow cards continued to be issued on both teams, including Maryland’s bench. 

With three minutes left in the match, the Terps continued to score.

Junior Luke van Heukelum notched one more goal for Maryland on a pass from senior midfielder Chris Steinleitner. The forward had not scored a goal since Sept. 9 against Pacific.

“This is a complete team, with a complete team effort today,” Cirovski said.

Maryland now awaits the winner of Washington and No. 12-seed Stanford in the NCAA Quarterfinals.