The conference dance is about to begin again.

The University of Maryland announced on Monday that it will join the Big Ten conference as of July 1, 2014, a move that will have significant impact in the college soccer landscape. It also ends 59 years of competition for the Terrapins in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

(Editor's Note: Since publication of this article, Rutgers has also been accepted into the Big Ten).

"Today is a watershed moment for the University of Maryland," university president Wallace D. Loh said in a press release. "Membership in the Big Ten Conference is in the strategic interest of the University of Maryland. It will not only ensure the financial vitality of Maryland Athletics for decades to come, but the extensive opportunities in the CIC for collaborations with our peer AAU and flagship universities in education, research, and innovation will boost the University of Maryland's ascendancy in academic excellence."

The Terps men's and women's soccer programs will enter Big Ten competition at that time, meaning that both men's head coach Sasho Cirovski and women's head coach Jonathan Morgan will deal with new competition in two years.

The switch won't be felt by the teams' current crop of juniors and seniors of course, but the future implications of recruits heading to Maryland might be impacted, as some members of the boys class of 2013 seemed a bit tentative about the prospect of playing in the Big Ten, posting doubts on Twitter about it.

Tournament results for both conferences have been around the same in the men's side of things. Two men's ACC programs (Maryland, North Carolina) and two Big Ten programs (Northwestern, Indiana) are in the Round of 16. On the women's side, one Big Ten program remains (Penn State) while three ACC teams (Duke, Florida State, North Carolina) are in the mix in next weekend's quarterfinals.

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