No. 10 Maryland men’s soccer falls 3-1 at Rutgers

Photo by Allison Mize/Maryland Terrapins

Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski watched from the bench as the referee reviewed and awarded a controversial penalty against the Terps with just four seconds remaining in the first half. Cirovski let the referee know his frustration and was sent off with a red card. Rutgers would go on to score the penalty to take the lead.

The Terps’ emotions again got the better of them in the second half when searching for a late equalizer. Goalie Laurin Mack shoved attacker Francesco Di Ponzio after the forward attempted to use his body to block Mack from quickly distributing the ball to his team. Another penalty was awarded and the Scarlet Knights again converted to put the game away. 

No. 10 Maryland men’s soccer (8-3-5, 5-2-2 Big Ten) fell, 3-1, to Rutgers (5-9-2, 2-6-1 Big Ten), dropping its second game in a row Tuesday following star midfielder Leon Koehl’s injury against UCLA. With just one game remaining, the Terps are now unable to secure a share of the Big Ten regular season title after Indiana’s win today. 

Rutgers’ offense created more opportunities early and twice saw the referee review potential penalties against Maryland.

The Scarlet Knights appeared to have won a penalty in the 39th minute after Terps defender William Kulvik appeared to contact the ball with his hand while sliding to block a shot in the box. But the referee ruled no penalty after reviewing the play. 

Rutgers would get its penalty in the 45th minute though when the ref reviewed a slight push by Bjarne Thiesen on Di Ponzio and judged it to have been inside the box. Ian Abbey took the shot and sent Mack the wrong way, burying his penalty in the bottom left corner to give the Scarlet Knights the lead.

The Terps’ attack started slow, failing to register a shot until the 21st minute which was really just a mis-hit cross from Luca Costabile. Maryland’s best chance of the half came from Max Rogers whipping a cross into a leaping Jace Clark, who headed his shot against the side netting.

Maryland upped the offensive tempo in the second half. The Terps pushed a lot of numbers forward and put immense pressure on the Rutgers’ defense. Colin Griffith nearly curled a shot into the top right corner in the 53rd minute, just missing the target. 

Matias De Jesus spun around and worked a shot in the 60th minute that required goalie Ciaran Dalton to fully lay out on a dive to block the effort. 

Rutgers attacked on the counter in the 62nd minute when Ola Maeland ran in behind the Maryland defense after a through ball over the top. Thiesen tracked back and slid to stop Maeland from getting a shot off. 

But the Scarlet Knights would still turn the sequence into a second goal. The ensuing corner led to Nico Rosamilia being played the ball in the box. He quickly flicked a shot on goal, giving Mack no chance to save his effort. The score came after the Terps dominated the first 15 minutes of the half, attempting four shots in that time. 

As Maryland attempted to pull off a comeback in the final 20 minutes, it moved to a back three with Chris Steinleitner dropping back to join Alex Nitzl and Thiesen in defense. Kulvik pushed up into the attack as basically another forward up top. 

The Terps fought back into the game with a goal from De Jesus. The junior took advantage of a disorganized Scarlet Knights’ defense after a deflection to slot his shot past the keeper in the 72nd minute and cut Rutgers’ lead in half. 

Maryland continued to press for a goal but the penalty awarded against Mack killed the momentum. Aidan Flynn scored from the spot to confine the Terps to their fate. 

Maryland will have a big opportunity at home to recapture its momentum for the postseason versus No. 1 Ohio State on Sunday.