On a beautiful Thursday night at Ludwig field, two former ACC rivals faced off. No. 24 Wake Forest has had a strong start to its season while Maryland is trying to find its footing under first year head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer.
Maryland dropped the match against Wake Forest in a tight contest, 1-0. The loss dropped the Terps to 1-1-4.
“After they scored we had our best opportunities,” Nemzer said. “We’re learning that you need one good opportunity to put the ball in the back of the net and we didn’t [get that].”
Throughout the first half, Maryland and Wake Forest played to a stalemate. Neither team had spent too much time in the other side’s zone, and both offenses were searching for a breakthrough.
Maryland’s defense stymied Wake Forest’s offense and kept the Demon Deacons In check throughout the entirety of the first half, as the Demon Deacons never found a great look at a goal.
Wake Forest’s defense allowed a miniscule 0.72 goals per game in its first six matches, providing a tough challenge for the Terps offense. The first half did nothing to change that, as Maryland had few opportunities on net, only attempting one shot in the first half.
“We need to work on our transition offense and have the forwards stretch the field more,” junior midfielder Sydney Urban said.
In addition, Wake Forest’s defense started the year strong in limiting the amount of attempts its opponent gets. The Demon Deacons allow 6.2 shots per game, two fewer than the Terps.
Neither team got much going, as some fouls in the first half seemed to completely take any momentum out of the teams sails. With a combined fifteen fouls, the game seemed to slow to a halt at times.
Towards the end of the first half, both Maryland and Wake Forest had scoring chances.
For the Terps, it was senior forward Mikayla Davis’s great move down the right sideline to draw a corner kick. However, nothing amounted out of the corner, as the Wake Forest defense easily headed the ball out of play.
Wake Forest had a good look at goal from sophomore Malaika Meena, but Meena’s shot was easily saved by Terps goalkeeper Madeline Smith. Smith has started the year strong, only allowing four goals and adding 17 saves.
At the end of the half, the two teams combined for three shots on goal. The two goalies, Smith and Kaityln Parks had little action in the net. The first half ended 0-0.
“We knew coming into this game that we wanted to make the game more physical and disrupt their rhythm, because they’re very good once they get in rhythm,” Nemzer said.
Wake Forest started off the second half much more aggressive, as the Demon Deacons began to spend more time in the Maryland defensive zone.
The Demon Deacons got two shots on goal within the first ten minutes of the second half, but Smith made a save on both. However, Wake Forest just kept pushing into Maryland’s zone, putting a lot of stress on the Maryland defense.
Eventually the Wake Forest offense found a hole in the Maryland defense, as the Demon Deacons pushed the ball down the left sideline. The cross to the front of the net was deflected and found by Giovanna Demarco, who punched the ball through the upper left corner of the net and put the Demon Deacons in front 1-0 with 22:53 to play.
Consequently, the Maryland offense played more aggressively, sending more women upfield. This resulted in Wake Forest having more scoring chances, as they managed to get off six shots in the second half.
Maryland had a few golden opportunities with under ten minutes to go, as forward Alyssa Poarch found a crease on the left side and found transfer forward Alina Stahl in the middle. However, the shot was deflected and pushed out of the Demon Deacons zone.
In addition, a penalty kick from the right corner for the Terps nearly found the net, but a header went wide of the goal. Later, defender Amanda Schafer’s shot from far out just drifted over the top post with a minute to go.
Maryland was unable to score and even up the score, falling to Wake Forest, 1-0.
“The fact that we stuck with a top 25 program for most of the game, we did our plan, and our plan worked for the most part,” Urban said. “If you can do that against a team like Wake Forest, you can do that against any team.”
The Terps’ next chance to find the win column is when they take on Saint Joseph at 1 p.m. on Sunday, September 11th at Ludwig Field.
- Maryland club hockey’s plea for stability is met with challenges - February 21, 2024
- Dallas Wings select Abby Meyers with No. 11 overall pick in 2023 WNBA Draft - April 10, 2023
- Three Maryland women’s basketball freshman enter transfer portal - March 31, 2023
