Maryland women’s soccer defeats George Mason for first win of season, 3-0

In what was a hot afternoon at Ludwig Field in College Park, weather played a factor early on. A brief mandatory water break was warranted 17 minutes in, and another came 20 minutes into the second half.

The heat didn’t slow down the Maryland offense, as the Terps took an early 1-0 lead and never looked back.

The Terps celebrated the first win under the helm of rookie head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer with the dumping of blue gatorade over her head, a moment to remember in Nemzer’s young College Park coaching career.

“Meg’s first win has been coming for a while,” forward Alina Stahl said. “Now we’re just excited to build off of that.”

Maryland battled against George Mason Sunday afternoon looking for its first win of the season after four-straight draws to open its 2022 campaign. The Terps did just that, as they shutout the Patriots in a 3-0 thumping for their first win of the season, improving them to 1-0-4.

Maryland started this game guns blazing, evident in the pair of corner kicks taken by midfielder Juliana Lynch in the first five minutes alone. The shots from Lynch didn’t amount to much, but they demonstrated a willingness to apply early pressure, unlike in the Terps’ prior contests.

The Terps’ aggressiveness was rewarded during the 14th minute of play, when Stahl capitalized off a Catherine DeRosa dime to take an early 1-0 lead of the match. Stahl’s score marked the first time the Terps have striked first this season, and continued Stahl’s streak of having scored or assisted on every goal in the season.

Maryland’s passing game was surgical throughout the half, as the Terps utilized a coordinated passing attack. 

Additionally, the Terps’ defense held up admirably any time they were tested.

Maryland built on this momentum when DeRosa set up yet another striker, this time with midfielder Sofi Vinas as the scoring recipient 36 minutes in. Vinas’ score marked the first time the Terps had held an advantage of any kind entering halftime. 

The junior midfielder entered this outing without a career assist, and accounted for both of the Terps’ scores to open the match.

Halftime commenced with the Patriots still without a corner kick and just one shot on goal. 

Maryland held a corner kick advantage by three.

The Terps opened the second period trying to stay hot, and tempers flared not even five minutes in when Lynch and George Mason’s Nina Wilson got into a brief shoving match that resulted in both participants given a yellow card. 

The Patriots started the second half similar to the first, as they continued to get caught in the passing lanes and failed to get much of anything going on offense.

George Mason defended its territory better as the match went on. The Patriots found ways to fend off the Maryland corner kicks to prevent digging themselves further in their hole. However, they were on the unfortunate end of a 9:0 corner kick disparity. 

Maryland continued to apply the heat down the stretch by consistently limiting George Mason’s trips on offense.

With 1:49 remaining, Maryland applied the icing on the cake. Forward Alyssa Poarch found the net on a feed from Vinas, extending the Terps’ lead to three, 3-0.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Nemzer said. “This is where I want to be. This is where I wanted to be, this is my dream job, so I feel like to get [the] monkey off the back and get the win going, more importantly the win for the team, [is great].”

Maryland cruised the rest of the way, securing its first shutout victory of the season.

The Terps will search for their second win of the season on Thursday when they meet Wake Forest at Ludwig Field at 7 p.m.