After preaching to limit the number of set pieces, No. 1-seed Maryland men’s soccer allowed five corners in the first half, including two in the first five minutes.
The fifth one came back to bite the Terps.
In the 40th minute, midfielder Jack Wagoner received the ball following the corner kick, sending a pass towards the middle. Defender Joey Maher took the ball and sent a rocket towards the top of the net, out of the reach of goalkeeper Niklas Neumann for an easy goal.
No. 4-seed Indiana doubled its lead just five minutes after finding its first score, extending the scoring margin to two goals in the first half.
“I gotta give credit to Indiana there,” midfielder Malcolm Johnston said, referring to the Hoosiers’ success on set pieces. “They overloaded the flanks well, got to the endline well and created dangerous chances, got our backs turned.”
It was only the third time the Terps allowed two goals in a half this season, putting coach Sasho Cirovski’s club in a difficult hole against a Big Ten powerhouse.
Maryland fought back with a Colin Griffith goal in the 61st minute –– and saw six other threatening shot attempts throughout the second half –– but the 2-0 first half deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
“Not the result we’re looking for,” Cirovski said. “We need to find a way to play from the start of the game … the first 35 minutes was a fairly even game, and then Indiana took their chances quite well.”
The Hoosiers clinched their sixth straight Big Ten championship berth and will travel to Piscataway to face Rutgers on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Maryland’s six year streak of failing to advance to the finals continued.
After scoring the game-winning goal in the quarterfinal round, Griffith got his fourth start of the season, his first since Sept. 16. The freshman acted as the striker early on, and was praised by his coach for being a “menace” who works “real hard.”
The first shot of the match came in the eighth minute when forward Stefan Copetti sent the ball off the right post.
Following the Copetti shot attempt, the Terps struggled to connect their final passes. Maryland only registered one more shot in the first period, also coming off the foot of Copetti in the 29th minute.
The 20-minute shotless streak for Maryland allowed the Hoosiers to build up their offensive attack.
In the 35th minute of action, forward Ryan Wittenbrink controlled the ball just inside Maryland’s box. Indiana’s offensive star took one dribble to the left before sending a cross, connecting with forward Samuel Sarver.
Sarver took the pass and tapped the ball into the back of the net to break the scoreless tie.
Just five minutes later, the Hoosiers striked again on Maher’s shot attempt to take the 2-0 lead.
“Unfortunately, we had about a 10 minute lapse at the end of the first half, and maybe didn’t quite play as much on the front foot,” Cirovski said.
The Terps entered the locker room looking to improve upon their measly two first half shot attempts and susceptibility to set pieces.
Maryland got out to a slow start to begin the second half, continuing its offensive drought.
However, that quickly changed when in the 61st minute, Griffith continued his hot streak from the Northwestern match.
The freshman forward made magic happen as he dribbled just inside the box before sending a missile to the right portion of the net. The ball traveled beyond the outstretched arms of goalkeeper JT Harms, cutting Indiana’s lead in half to give Ludwig Field some life.
With the momentum beginning to shift back towards the home team, Maryland nearly evened up the score just a few moments later.
Defender Chris Rindov’s header sailed just a bit too high and off the crossbar, as the senior was inches away from tying up the match.
With Maryland firmly back in the picture, it continued to search for one more goal to send the match to overtime.
The Terps had multiple great looks in the final 15 minutes –– defender Nick Richardson’s uncontested shot sailed high of the net and a Copetti header deflected off the crossbar for the second near-header goal in the half. After only having two shot attempts in the first half, Cirovski’s squad had seven in the second period.
“Proud of our guys for the effort they put out in the second half, the amount of chances we created,” Cirovski said. “Really unfortunate to not tie this game up.”
Maryland’s defense also corrected itself in the second half, allowing zero shot attempts through the last 45 minutes.
However, it would be a case of too little, too late, as the bulk of Indiana’s damage was done in the first half.
“We still know what we have in the locker room,” Johnston said. “We still know the quality that we have, and now we can go win a national championship.”
