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Fresh off its first undefeated season since 1968, Maryland men’s soccer picked up numerous postseason awards Friday.
Head coach Sasho Cirovski was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, the fourth time in his career he’s earned conference coach of the year, but the first since the Terps moved from the ACC. Besides leading the Terps to a No. 1 ranking and an undefeated regular season, Maryland went 11-0 at home for their first perfect home regular season since 2005.
Sophomore forward Gordon Wild was the unanimous selection for Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year after leading the conference with 15 goals and 34 points. Wild was also a unanimous selection for First Team All Big Ten.
Senior defender Alex Crognale was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year after anchoring a backline that tied a program record with five straight shutouts earlier this season. He was also a weapon on set pieces, adding six goals.
After being named to the All Big Ten second team last year, Crognale joined Wild as unanimous selections for the All-Big Ten first team.
Fellow senior Cody Niedermeier was named Big Ten Goalie of the Year after finishing second in the Big Ten with six shutouts. Although his 0.83 goals against average was only fifth in the Big Ten, his 1634 minutes in goal were the second-most of any Big Ten goalie. Niedermeier was also named to the All-Big Ten first team.
If that wasn’t enough, sophomore midfielder Amar Sejdic and senior defender Chris Odoi-Atsem were also named first team All-Big Ten, sophomore midfielder Eryk Williamson and senior defender Suli Dainkeh were named to the second team, and freshman defender Donovan Pines was named to the Big Ten’s all-freshman team.
The Terps finished the regular season 15-0-2 and will play either Rutgers or Michigan in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament Sunday at 4 p.m. at Ludwig Field.