The Terps remained winless in Big Ten play.
When a season isn’t going a team’s way, it seems to find new ways to lose.
For Maryland women’s soccer, Thursday’s game against Nebraska featured another tough moment in an already dismal season. In the 19th minute, Nebraska forward Sarah Weber received the ball in the box and fired a shot that caromed off the crossbar. It then hit the back of the diving goalkeeper Liz Beardsley and found its way into the back of the net.
“They hit the post once, and then it hits our goalkeeper and goes in,” Maryland head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer said. “That’s sort of like our luck right now.”
Maryland played some of its best soccer of the past few weeks, though, with the team chemistry looking much improved on offense, but the bit of misfortune ended up being crucial in a 3-0 loss to the Cornhusker.
The Terps have now lost five in a row.
They had a few promising attempts on target in the first half, but the frontline lost its composure in the second half, preventing any chance of a comeback.
Nemzer was encouraged by the 12-shot performance, though.
“I thought that it needed to be a tad bit more patient as far as building, I thought that we did a great job switching the point of attack,” she said.
Even though Beardsley surrendered the opening goal on accident, she played incredibly. She made two diving saves in the second half, one against Weber in the 50th minute and the second against forward Eleanor Dale in the 79th minute. Beardsley saved five of nine shots on goal.
The Terps’ backline continued a trend from last game: losing its composure late. Maryland held the Cornhuskers’ elite attack to just one goal in the first 80 minutes, preventing long balls from getting through. But in the final 10 minutes, the defenders seemingly played like the game was lost, giving up two goals due to lackluster marking and simple mistakes.
Both teams started the game off aggressive, with Maryland outshooting the Cornhuskers 4-3 in the first 10 minutes. Forward Peyton Bernard recorded the sole shot on target, which was saved by keeper Samantha Hauk.
Despite the Terps’ hot start, the Cornhuskers struck first. While the goal took an unfortunate deflection, it was a collision between defenders Halle Johnson and Eden White that prevented a clearance.
To start the second half, Maryland continued to press and maintained possession in the attacking half. But attempts by Ava Morales and Kelsey Smith were gobbled up by Hauk, leaving the Terps scoreless.
After Smith’ attempt in the 64th minute, the Terps offense shut down, failing to attempt another shot until the 87th minute.
Dale recorded her 20th goal of the season in the 83rd minute, beating defender Katie Coyle and the backline to a long ball and powering it past Bearsdley.
Nemzer was frustrated with the officials, questioning the legitimacy of Dale’s goal.
“The referee told us that he was gonna drop it back to the goalkeeper, so we were getting up, and then that doesn’t happen, and they get us on the counter,” she said. “So I think that changes the game.”
Dale scored another late goal off a corner in the 90th minute, capitalizing on a loose ball.
The game marked Maryland’s third loss by three or more goals in the last four games.
Three things to know
1. Maryland’s attack looked sharp in the first half. Recently, Maryland’s front line has failed to get a foothold early in games. Despite not scoring in the first half, the Terps mustered seven shots, two more than their last game against Rutgers.
2. No first-half shutout for the Terps. Whether it was an unlucky goal or not, the Terps did not hold a clean sheet in the first half for the fifth time in seven Big Ten games. Maryland has lost every game this season in which it conceded in the opening half.
3. Maryland continues to struggle away from home. Excluding its final nonconference game of the season against Binghamton, Maryland is winless on the road (0-5-3).