Maryland Athletics
By DAN KARELL
Highly rated goalkeeper Zack Steffen has decided to begin his professional soccer career in Europe.
The University of Maryland announced on Friday morning that Steffen has signed with SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga, and will forgo his final two seasons of eligibility. The sophomore goalkeeper was an instant starter from day one, and he helped lead Maryland to the Big Ten regular season and tournament title in the Terrapins first season in the conference.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for him to develop,” U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos told SBI. “In this country he was tied up with the Philadelphia Union and I think in his particular case, signing with a club like Freiburg, known for developing players and caring for their players, I think its a great move.”
Steffen started all 48 games he played for Maryland over the past two falls, finishing his collegiate career with a 1.00 goals against average and a .701 save percentage. He finishes with a record of 30-10-8, with 17 shutouts.
“My time at Maryland has been nothing short of spectacular,” Steffen said in a statement. “I want to thank my coaches and my teammates for an amazing two years in College Park. While at Maryland, I’ve had a chance to develop both on the field and off and I am excited to take the next step in my soccer career. I’d also like to thank the fans – the best in all of college soccer – for their incredible support.”
The 19-year-old Steffen is also a member of the U.S. U-20s, and is a product of FC Delco in the Philadelphia area. Steffen was on the U.S. U-20 team at the 2013 U-20 World Cup, despite being two years younger than most of his teammates and the opposition.
Steffen won’t be the only American at SC Freiburg when he arrives. The youngster is joined by 21-year-old midfielder/defender Caleb Stanko, who is currently recovering from a serious knee injury.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Zack and we could not be more proud of him,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “Zack is going to have a long and prosperous soccer career and we feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to help Zack in his growth both as a player and as a person. On behalf of all of Terp Nation, we wish Zack nothing but the absolute best.”
Steffen becomes the first Terrapin to leave school early for Europe since Robbie Rogers signed with Heerenveen in 2006 following his freshman season.
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What do you think of this development? Like the move to Freiburg? Do you see him earning minutes with their reserves this season?
Share your thoughts below.
It appears Tab Ramos doesn’t think too much of the Philadelphia Union’s development setup. I’m a Union fan and I can’t say I have any reason to disagree…
“Steffen won’t be the only American at SC Freiburg when he arrives. The youngster is joined by 21-year-old midfielder/defender Caleb Stanko”
Also Argentinian-American Ethan Sonis. Do your research!
Beware of the bächle in Freiburg my friend
I don’t have a suggestion on how to do, but there has to be some sort of a system that provides compensation to the Union academy. Otherwise, the teams will stop investing into those. I don’t know if the academy had a huge impact in this specific case, but in general, it’s just not right that they are free to leave after getting free training for several years.
Not sure if it counts because he didn’t sign immediately, but Paul Torres left the program early a few years ago and latched on to a lower-division side in Sweden.
FEAR THE TURTLE!!
I know he’s saying he had a good time in college, but the choice of words, “My time at Maryland has been nothing short of spectacular,” almost sounds like it needs to be said in the third person.
“THIS GUY’S time at Maryland has been nothing short of spectacular.”
Any Bundesliga gurus want to give a breakdown of the current GK depth chart at Freiberg?
Freiberg has 3 GK’s on their senior roster — all are 24 and younger. Roman Bürki, who they acquired from Grasshopper Zurich this summer, has been the #1 this season and recently broke into the Swiss national Team.
As MMV said, 3 keepers on their current roster. Burki, a 24-year-old former Swiss U21 player who was signed at the end of last year after Baumann left for Hoffenheim. He’s a backup on the Swiss National Team. A very good player with lots of potential, but he’s been getting shelled a bit this season as Freiburg isn’t very good, and in danger of relegation. He’s given up 21 goals in 14 games.
The other guys, Mielitz and Batz, aren’t much of a factor. Mielitz is 25,was a good youth player, and in Germany’s Youth National system, but his development has stagnated a bit and is considered a solid backup, but not much more. Batz is 23, and a guy who came up through Freiberg’s & Nurnberg’s systems, and is considered a future backup.
I think Steffen would immediately become their top future prospect at GK. It’ll be up to him to see how far he goes.
Perfect post. If Freiberg does get relegated, I would not be shocked to see them transfer Burki so they can buy additional players that will strengthen their side for a shot back into promotion. At that point, Steffen is likely the top back-up for now, and they would likely go after an aging but solid GK for a year contract to help them with promotion.