Maryland’s Ludwig Field to host 2019 Big Ten men’s soccer tournament

In the 2014 Big Ten men’s soccer tournament championship, No. 1-seeded Maryland defeated No. 6-seeded Indiana 2-1 on their own Ludwig Field to capture its first-ever Big Ten tournament championship.

Fast forward nearly five years and one national championship later, and the Terps may have the opportunity to win another tournament title on their home soil this upcoming season. The Big Ten announced Monday that Maryland’s Ludwig Field will host the 2019 Big Ten Men’s Soccer Tournament semifinal and championship games.

“The Big Ten is excited to head to Ludwig Field for the 2019 Big Ten Men’s Soccer Tournament. Maryland’s soccer program has years of tradition and pride that exemplifies the Big Ten,” said Big Ten Associate Commissioner for Sports Administration Wendy Fallen. “We are confident that our students and coaches will have terrific experiences.”

The tournament officially starts on Nov. 9 when the eighth and ninth seeds compete in the first round at the top-seeded institution. The next day, the quarterfinal round will kick off with the top four seeds hosting matches to determine who will advance to the next round.

Following the quarterfinals, the tournament will then shift to Ludwig Field, where the two semifinal games will take place on Friday, Nov. 15. The championship game is set for Sunday, Nov. 17.

Maryland has seen continued success in the Big Ten tournament over the years, conquering their competition in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The Terps will look to reclaim that success after falling short the past two seasons, now with a home field advantage.

Until then, Maryland will start defending their national title on Thursday, Aug. 22 when they host USF.

In other news

The AP college football preseason poll dropped Monday, and Maryland’s schedule appears to be a tough one. The Terps are slated to face six Top 25 teams and one team that received votes.

Former Terp Zack Steffen had himself a weekend. Steffen not only made his debut for Fortuna Dusseldorf but pulled off 10 saves and earned himself Man of the Matchday.

Nearly two dozen Maryland baseball players participated in summer leagues, earning good experience in leagues across the Mid-Atlantic and New England areas.

One of those was players is 2019 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Maxwell Costes. He threw out the first pitch at the Orioles game Monday night. The Gilman School product was formerly part of the Orioles’ Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (or RBI) youth outreach program. (His pitch looked like a strike to me.)

The Maryland-heavy Whipsnakes are headed to the first-ever Premier Lacrosse League playoffs. A large part of their playoff-clinching victory over the Redwoods this past weekend was goalie Kyle Bernlohr (‘16).

Maryland is in the running for one of the biggest basketball prospects in the 2020 class.

Before the Maryland women’s soccer team hosts Georgia Southern on Thursday, three Terps earned Big Ten preseason honors on Monday.

After a phenomenal freshman year, Taylor Mikesell continued her success over the summer and accomplished a dream of playing for team USA in the 2019 Pan American Games, from PressBox.

Here at Testudo Times, we are making a few leadership changes for the 2019-20 year. Lila Bromberg will be the site’s new managing editor, with Sean Montiel and Cody Wilcox as deputy managing editors.

And finally, we are doing a mailbag this week. Hit us up with some of your fall sports questions, either on Twitter or at testudotimes@gmail.com.