Maryland women’s soccer overwhelmed by No. 8 Penn State’s attack in 4-0 loss

Shot disparity proved to be a major issue in Maryland women’s soccer’s first Big Ten matchup of the season. The Terps couldn’t keep up with Penn State’s aggressive play, allowing 27 goals to the Nittany Lions while only taking eight shots of their own. 

Maryland (4-4, 0-1) dropped their conference opener to the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions (5-2-1, 1-0) 4-0.

Penn State immediately tested Maryland after only one minute. A shot from Penn State redshirt senior midfielder Julia Raich snuck through the legs of Maryland redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Faith Luckey during her save attempt, but official review confirmed the ball did not fully cross the goal line

However, the Nittany Lions were able to find back-to-back scores shortly after.

Penn State’s first goal came after sophomore defender Bella Ayscue intercepted a Maryland pass attempt. Ayscue passed to sophomore forward Aubrey Kulpa, who then tried to get the ball to graduate forward Kaitlyn MacBean. 

Although Maryland redshirt sophomore defender Mia Mitchell was able to disrupt the pass attempt to MacBean, the ball took a fortunate bounce to senior forward Amelia White. White took a shot – one of her team-leading seven shots on goal for the day – which got past the outstretched reach of Luckey and put the Nittany Lions on the board. 

Less than a minute later, Penn State pushed its lead to 2-0. 

Heading down the pitch, Penn State freshman defender Hannah Jordan passed the ball to Kulpa in the left corner. From there, Kulpa charged toward Maryland sophomore defender Taryn Raibon, eventually shooting from the penalty box and perfectly placing the ball in the bottom left corner of the net. Kulpa came into the match co-leading the Big Ten in goals with six.

Maryland struggled to find scoring opportunities in the first half but still appeared to remain confident. They were only able to take three shots, none of them being on goal. 

The Terps’ defense continued to allow some dangerous looks to the Nittany Lions’ offense, struggling to effectively press, but none of them yielded goals. 

Maryland allowed a whopping 19 shots in the first 45 minutes to Penn State. The Nittany Lions are averaging 9.7 shots per game this season. Penn State had a total of 12 players record a shot throughout the match. In addition to White leading the team in shots on the day, MacBean took five shot attempts and Kulpa took three.

Coming out of the half, MacBean found the back of the net twice for the Nittany Lions.

With two Maryland defenders on her, MacBean connected on the cross sent in from the left side by Kulpa for her first goal of the day in the 49th minute.

Only three minutes later, White tried to send the ball to the front of the net but Maryland senior defender Alyssa Abramson appeared to take possession. That was until Kulpa swooped in, snatching the ball from Abramson and sending it back toward the front of the net. 

After players clashed for control of the ball in front of the net, MacBean made the sliding kick to score her second goal of the day and extend the Nittany Lions’ lead to four.

It is the third game in a row that the Terps have only been able to take eight or fewer shots. So far this season, they have averaged 11.6 shots per game.