This past weekend (yeah, it’s been a busy week for me), Maryland’s men’s soccer team defeated New Mexico to win the national championship. All championships are special, but this one was extra nice for the Terps, since it was their fourth straight trip to the College Cup (that’s soccer’s name for the final four. The NCAA won’t let them use the more obvious name of Final Four.) and they had failed to bring home the hardware in their previous three tries.
Maryland becomes the fifth different ACC team to win a soccer title. Clemson and Duke won three between them in the 80’s, Virginia won five in a span of six years in the early 90’s and UNC won an unexpected title four years ago.
It’s somewhat odd that it has taken Maryland so long to win a national championship, as they’ve been one of the ACC’s strongest programs. Maryland has won 18 ACC titles, by far the most of any school (Virginia and Clemson are next with 13 and 12), but most of those came back in the 50’s and 60’s when the Terrapins won 16 in a row.
Congratulations to the overdue Maryland program. It’s always nice to see an ACC school win a national championship in any sport.