Maryland Men's Soccer Secure the #4 Seed in the NCAA Tournament
The 2025 NCCA men's soccer tournament begins play on Thursday, Nov. 20, kicking off the first round of play. Where does the Maryland Terrapin men's soccer team lineup on the bracket?
Yesterday, the NCAA released the selections for the 48-team tournament, with the Terps claiming the No. 4 seed and earning a first-round bye.
Maryland finished 12-1-3 (8-0-2 Big Ten), its highest finish since 2016, when it went 18-1-2 (7-0-1 Big Ten), with a win percentage of .905. Head coach Sasho Cirovski, in his 33rd season, has now led this program to 30 NCAA Tournament appearances since his arrival in 1993, adding to his impressive resume ,listed here: which includes 3 NCAA titles, 3 Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships, 9 College Cup appearances, 15 conference titles, and a 2005 NSCAA National Coach of the Year.
The Terps defeated all of the five ranked opponents they faced in the regular season:
Aug 25th at. No. 25 Georgetown: 1-0
Oct 10th vs. No. 13 Michigan: 2-0
Oct 14th vs. No. 13 Rutgers: 2-0
Oct 24th vs. No. 14 Indiana: 3-2
Oct 31st vs. No. 14 Washington: 1-0
Maryland reached the Big Ten tournament with an impressive, dominant season in and out of the conference, facing off against UCLA in the Semifinal #2 matchup. However, the Bruins got the best of the Terps, scoring two late goals on their way to a 2-0 shutout, after the first meeting in the regular season ended in a draw.
Stats Leaders for the Terps
Goals Scorers: Sadam Masereka (9) and Stephane Njike (7)
The Terps had 13 other goal scores, including three players finishing with (3), and four players with (2).
Assists: Albi Ndrenika (8), Joseph Umberto Picotto (7), Njike (7), and Rocket Ritarita (5).
Points: Masereka and Njike each had (21).
Ndrenika (14) and Umberto Picotto (11) were the other two Terps to finish with double-digit points.
Minutes: Tristen Rose (1440), Lasse Kelp (1440), and Luca Costabile (1351)
Goalkeeping
Laurin Mack started all 16 games in the net for the Terps. Finishing with a 12-1-3 record, recording a 0.88 goals allowed on average per game, and only surrendering 14 goals all season. He made 48 saves with a 0.774 save percentage.
Mack was named the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week on three different occasions: Aug. 26, Oct. 14, and Oct. 21. He was a key piece of the Terps' season, displaying his athletic ability to protect the net and awareness to stay sharp game-in and game-out.
Who's Maryland's Opponent in the Second Round?
Maryland will face the winner of the North Carolina-North Florida matchup on Thursday at 6 p.m. The Terps will host the winner on Nov. 23rd at Ludwig Field with the game starting at 1 p.m. North Florida returns to the NCAA tournament for the second-straight season off the heels of back-to-back Atlantic Sun Championship titles. UNC finished 9-5-4 in the 2025 season, ending on a tough note, dropping the final three of four regular-season games. The Tar Heels reached the second round of the ACC tournament, falling to Virginia.
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Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.