Maryland men’s soccer and field hockey receive conference honors

As the rest of the fall sports are about to get underway, Maryland men’s soccer and field hockey picked up some preseason Big Ten honors Tuesday.

In the men’s soccer preseason poll, the Terrapins were picked to finish second in the conference behind Indiana. The Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular season and tournament in 2018 — Maryland finished fifth in the regular season standings — but the Terps ultimately got the last laugh in the semifinal round of the College Cup in Santa Barbara, Calif. Of course, Maryland ended up winning the national championship to boot.

The Terps may be somewhat unrecognizable this season compared to last year. After all, they’ll be without Amar Sejdic, Donovan Pines, Dayne St. Clair, Paul Bin and more. But head coach Sasho Cirovski’s group is still filled with talent. That includes sophomore forward William James Herve (three goals and three assists in 2018), senior midfielder Eli Crognale (four assists and 21 starts) and senior defender Johannes Bergmann (started all 23 games). All three were recognized on the Big Ten Men’s Soccer Preseason Honors List and will look to lead the team in its first game against USF on Thursday.

As for field hockey, the Terrapins also had a trio of players recognized. Senior forward Jen Bleakney (five goals and four assists for Syracuse in 2017), senior midfielder Madison Maguire (seven goals and 12 assists) and junior defender Bodil Keus (nine goals and seven assists) were awarded Big Ten Field Hockey Preseason Honors.

The field hockey team is coming off a 22-3 (7-1 Big Ten) record after reaching the national championship game for the second year in a row in 2018. However, these Terps have gone winless both times, falling to Connecticut by a 2-1 score in 2017 and North Carolina in a 2-0 shutout last time around. The team begins its season on Friday against Richmond.

In other news

In case you missed it, a lot of football-related things happened:

• Tuesday morning, the Terps released their first depth chart.
• Lila, Cody and I gave our biggest takeaways from the unveiling.
• Josh Jackson was announced as starting quarterback on Monday, and Wes did a film breakdown on the redshirt junior Tuesday.
• The Testudo Times Podcast met again to preview the upcoming season.

Maryland men’s basketball’s Chol Marial is expected to miss three-to-four months to repair stress fractures in his legs.

Maryland volleyball’s season starts on Friday, and Alex previewed the upcoming season, one in which the Terps could break through for an NCAA Tournament bid.

Maryland men’s basketball legend Walt Williams was announced as an inductee into the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame Tuesday.

Former Maryland women’s lacrosse defender Julia Braig has joined the coaching staff at St. Joseph’s University.

Tuesday was former Terp and current Atlanta Hawks forward Kevin Huerter’s birthday.

Check out some football-related tweets!