While many of their classmates will be relaxing somewhere warm, Maryland goalkeeper Zack Steffen and midfielder Alex Shinsky have international friendlies with the development teams of some of the best clubs in the world to look forward to for their spring break this year.
The Maryland Terrapins will be crossing the pond during their spring break (March 16-23) to embark on a tour of Manchester and London, England, where they have closed door international friendlies planned with the development teams of Manchester United, Tottenham and Crystal Palace. Dates and times have not been finalized yet.
The Terps, who lost in the College Cup final at PPL Park in December, kicked off their spring slate on Saturday with a 1-0 shutout over USL PRO club Richmond Kickers and will continue when they return from England with home games against Harrisburg City Islanders (March 30), North Carolina (April 5) and St. John's (April 26) and a road match with UMBC on April 11.
Connor Maloney had a good start to his spring campaign with Penn State, scoring a goal and delivering an assist in the Nittany Lions 5-0 win over Haukar FC of Iceland on March 3. The Nittany Lions, which also have Academy alums Shane Campbell, Michael Gonzalez and Christian Kaschak on the team, next face Harrisburg City Islanders on March 22 and have games scheduled with Bucknell (March 29), Vaughan SC of Ontario (April 5), St. Francis Pa. (April 5), Navy (April 13) and the Blue-White Scrimmage on April 19. Unlike the Terps, Penn State will be staying put for the spring, playing all of their games either at Holuba Hall or Jeffrey Field in State College.
Georgetown, home to Keegan Rosenberry, Melvin Snoh, Brett Campbell and Jon Azzinnari, had their first spring game against American canceled on Saturday but have dates upcoming at home against Jared Martinelli and Temple (March 22) and Wake Forest (April 5) and road games against UMBC (March 29) and Delaware (April 13).
Billy McConnell and the Indiana Hoosiers start their season in April with a visit to the newest North American Soccer League club Indy Eleven in Indianapolis on April 4 and take on defending national champions Notre Dame on April 12 in Fort Wayne and the Mexican U20 team in Indianapolis on April 27. Their lone home game is April 16 against Butler.
Darius Madison and Virginia start their spring slate with a visit to USL PRO club Pittsburgh Riverhounds on March 8 and also have road dates with USL PRO's Richmond Kickers and defending NASL Soccer Bowl champs New York Cosmos. Their lone home game is against VCU on April 19 and they'll also play North Carolina in Greensboro on March 29.
North Carolina right back Colton Storm and the Tarheels have already swept a pair of double headers to start the spring season with wins over Queens University and South Carolina on Feb. 22 and Sigma FC on March 2. Their next game is March 22 against NASL club Carolina Railhawks at Wake Med Soccer Park and they have road games with Maryland on April 5 and a doubleheader with Wake Forest on April 12. They will take on Virginia in Greensboro on March 29.
Todd Pratzner's Xavier Musketeers open the spring season March 22 with games against Michigan and Oakland in Pontiac, Mich., and have dates with Indianapolis (March 29), Thomas More (April 4), Cedarville (April 16) and Akron (April 26).
Michigan State, where midfielder/defender Andrew Herr plays, has not released their spring schedule. George Mason (Zach Herstak and Colton Amidon), Memphis (Quincy Thomas), Temple (Martinelli), La Salle (Joe Farrell), Elon (Chad Craig and Jonathan Wenger), St. John's (Brandon Savino), Navy (Thomas Shiiba and Mark Shiiba), Yale (Cameron Kirdzik), Penn (Alex Murphy), Fordham (Kyle Bitterman), James Madison (Kyle Morton), Colgate (Colin O'Neill) and Monmouth (Matt Jeffery and St. John's transfer Jelani Williams) haven't released their spring schedules either.