Head women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese and head men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski each added red-letter victories to their UMD highlight reels this year.
Frese won her 500th game at Maryland when she led the Terps to a 95-73 rout of Nebraska on Feb. 14, making her the winningest coach in program history. She surpassed Hall of Famer Chris Weller, who won 499 games in her 27 seasons (1975-2002) at UMD.
Frese—whose record at Maryland is now 512-131—finished her 19th season at the helm in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, where the No. 2-seed Terps dominated Mount St. Mary’s and Alabama in the first two rounds before falling to Texas, 64-61, in the Sweet 16. She was named National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, ESPN and The Athletic, as well as Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Cirovski, in his 28th season leading the men’s soccer squad, notched his 400th win with the Terps as they edged Michigan, 2-1, on March 11. (The season, normally played in the fall, was postponed to early spring due to COVID-19.)
The victory made Cirovski, who’s led Maryland to three NCAA titles, the sixth Division I men’s soccer coach to reach the 400-win mark at one school.
Terp Takes Big Ten’s Top Defensive Honor
Men’s basketball senior guard Darryl Morsell was named the 2021 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, as voted upon by the league’s 14 head coaches, making him the first player in program history to earn the conference honor.
“To be recognized by Big Ten coaches shows how much respect he has earned over the last four years,” Head Coach Mark Turgeon says. “Darryl worked incredibly hard to reach this point, and to see it validated is extremely special.”
Morsell also earned an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten nod, as well as UMD’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Maryland made its 29th appearance in the NCAA Tournament this season, with the No. 10-seeded Terps topping UConn in the first round before falling to Alabama in the Round of 32.
