Maryland men’s soccer yields late goal, suffers 3-2 heartbreaker against Indiana

The clock was ticking down on his team as Samuel Sarver settled the cross-field long ball on the right wing. With seven minutes remaining on the clock, Sarver looked up and saw one Maryland defender between him and the back of the net.

The Hoosiers’ top scorer made his move, a simple cut to the inside before ripping off a shot with his left. Mikah Seger stretched for the save to no avail, as the shot found the side-netting of the far post and settled into the goal for a score. 

Sarver sprinted towards the crowd, dancing in front of his team’s traveling fans after slotting home what would become the match-winner.

Maryland men’s soccer (3-7-3, 0-5-2 Big Ten) fell in a heartbreaker to Indiana (7-3-4, 3-1-2 Big Ten) as a result of Sarver’s late heroics. 

Indiana saw the better of the chances in the early going, earning itself a few set piece opportunities. However, none proved dangerous as the Terps easily dealt with each attack on the box. 

The Terps were able to finally get their first shot of the game in the 21st minute with a Leon Koehl strike from outside of the box. The shot inspired a full stretch effort from the Hoosiers’ keeper. He scrambled to cover the far corner of the goal, however the ball went just over the bar, rattling the top of the net. 

Outside of this chance, Maryland could not find any strong looks in the first half. Indiana pounced on every build-up opportunity for the Terps, never allowing for that final pass to get through. 

“It’s a game at home and tons of fans [were] out here supporting us and we came out flat,” senior forward Stefan Copetti said. “It’s unacceptable for us.” 

This favored Indiana, who have thrived on defensive contests up to this point in the season. The Hoosiers allowed just 0.62 goals from opponents, scoring a goal per game entering Friday’s contest.

Luckily for Maryland, one thing that was going right was its stellar defensive play throughout the half. The Terps allowed virtually nothing up the middle, forcing everything outside. This caused Indiana to look for crosses on most possessions, but the Terps were ready for it, making clearance after clearance. 

With both offenses flatlining to begin things, each team walked to the locker room with much to talk about, particularly how to contribute to the game’s three combined shots from the two sides.

And in the 46th minute, Koehl did just that, making a nifty run around defenders outside the box before ripping off a shot. Still, Koehl could not find the back of the net, just barely missing the post. 

This would begin to get the gears shifting for the offense, as they produced a couple chances inside the box afterwards, highlighted by a near Luke van Heukelum miss. 

However, Indiana came right back with some offense of its own, also sending some dangerous balls inside the box. The momentum continued to build for the Hoosiers as they applied pressure on the Maryland defense for multiple minutes.

It all came crashing down for the Terps in the 54th minute when senior defender Jansen Miller set up for the throw deep in Maryland territory, winding up and sending the ball careening into the box. The throw found the head of junior midfielder Patrick McDonald, who flicked it on into the path of freshman forward Alex Barger. He made no mistake with the point blank chance, burying a header of his own into the back of the net and sending his team ahead, 1-0.

“The young man just attacked the ball almost untouched, unpressured and you can’t do that,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “That was too soft a goal to give up … that’s the difference in the game.”

After ten minutes of little action, the Terps’ offense found a sudden huge opportunity in the counterattack as van Heukelum powered the ball forward, one defender in front of him. After allowing some teammates to catch up to the play, the freshman laid off the ball with a sly back tap to sophomore defender Brian St. Martin, who sent the cross in to Copetti. The senior saw his chance and took it, tapping the ball by Indiana goalkeeper JT Harms and tying the game back up at one. 

The Terps were not done pressuring the Indiana goal, nearly getting their second after ten minutes of consecutive pressure. 

Freshman midfielder Kimani Stewart-Baynes made a great run to get himself free on the right wing. The freshman angled his run into the box, sending a pass straight across the face of goal to Koehl. However, Koehl could not capitalize on the golden opportunity, missing the point blank shot despite having a ton of open net. 

Unfortunately for the Terps, however, their offensive momentum would once again be met with the response of an Indiana goal. 

Sarver’s goal in the 83rd would effectively become the match-winner despite a few close calls from the Terps in the final five minutes. 

The Terps now look at the result of Ohio State’s upcoming game versus Michigan State to determine whether or not they will have a chance at the Big Ten tournament. Should Ohio State lose or tie to the Spartans, the Terps will have to beat the Buckeyes on the road in the regular season finale to punch their ticket to the Big Ten tournament. If Ohio State wins in East Lansing, the Terps’ postseason hopes will be over. 

“Right now we need some help from Michigan State on Tuesday to get ready for hopefully a meaningful game next Sunday [at Ohio State],” Cirovski said

However, before then the team will take another break from conference play with a match versus Navy on Tuesday.