Maryland men’s soccer announces addition of Jacen Russell-Rowe to 2020 roster

Maryland men’s soccer’s pool of forwards for 2020 just got deeper, as the team announced on Friday that Canadian forward Jacen Russell-Rowe will be joining the Terps next season.

A native of Ontario, Russell-Rowe competed on the Canada U-17 team this fall, scoring four goals in seven appearances, including two at this year’s U-17 World Cup. He also was a member of Toronto FC’s youth team since 2018, where he tallied 40 goals in 33 appearances.

“I am extremely excited to welcome Jacen to the Maryland Soccer family,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said in a press release. “Jacen is a proven goalscorer and link up target player. He has a real nose for the goal and a skillset that enables him to score in a variety of ways. With both the Toronto FC Academy and the Canadian U-17 National team, he has proven himself to be one of the top young strikers in North America and I can’t wait to integrate him into our team for 2020.”

His addition makes four freshman that will join the Terps for the 2020 campaign, with the team securing commitments from midfielders Ben Bender and Joe Sucheckiand, as well as goalkeeper Jamie Lowell this December.

Russell-Rowe adds to what is a deep forward group for the Terps next season, with Paul Bin, Eric Matzelevich and Justin Gielen likely occupying the team’s three starting forward spots in the 4-3-3 head coach Sasho Cirovski used for much of last season.

Brayan Padilla will be returning from a torn ACL, and Will Hervé will be back as well, making next year’s squad one that should have plenty of goal-scoring options.

At 6’0, Russell-Rowe is a terror in the open field and makes for an ideal target for lofted crosses into the box from defenders Matt and Ben Di Rosa.

Correction: We were previously unable to find Russell-Rowe’s amount of goals scored for Toronto FC online, but the number has been corrected after information was released by Maryland men's soccer.