With under 10 minutes left in the match, tensions were high as the momentum had slowly shifted to Georgetown’s side.
Following a rocket by Hoya freshman Jack Panayotou that found the back of the net, the Terps suddenly found themselves in a bit of trouble after what was a relatively calm first half.
However, the Terps’ defense rose to the occasion, closing out the match and squeaking out of Shaw Field with a 2-1 victory.
The Terps improved their record to 3-1-1 while Georgetown fell to 1-1-3.
“That was a tremendous performance by our team,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “I’m very proud of our guys, I think we’re making progress. We’re starting to understand what it takes.”
No. 14 Maryland men’s soccer traveled to Shaw Field to take on No. 21 Georgetown in a Saturday afternoon matchup.
The action got started early, when Maryland forward Colin Griffith drew a penalty kick for the second straight game after being tripped by a Georgetown defender. Midfielder Malcolm Johnston capitalized on the foul with a penalty kick goal to put the Terps up 1-0 early, his second of the season.
In the 16th minute, Maryland forward Joshua Bolma looked to give the Terps an early two-goal lead, but his shot was saved by a diving Luca Ulrich.
In the 19th minute, Maryland defender Nick Richardson turned the ball over while trying to work possession downfield. Georgetown took advantage of the miscue, drawing a yellow card and a free kick on the following possession. However, the free kick was off target, sailing to the left of the goalpost, keeping the Terps ahead by one.
Despite owning possession of the ball for a majority of the first half, the Terps seemed to squander a lot of opportunities once they found themselves near the goal. In the 25th minute, Johnston got past a Hoya defender before his pass to Bolma in the box was off target, resulting in a change of possession.
In the 30th minute of action, Maryland senior Nick Richardson was gifted an easy score after Ulrich failed to clear the ball past him. Richardson intercepted his kick, shooting a rocket off his left foot through the back of the net. It was the first goal of his career for the redshirt senior defender.
“It was awesome … that was the first time one’s really come my way in a while,” Richardson said. “Just to put it in the back of the net, I was so joyful, and it feels great scoring goals.”
The Terps took a subsequent 2-0 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the first half.
Georgetown seemed to have its best chance to get on the board in the 40th minute. However, forward Marlon Tabora’s wide open shot from straight on missed to the right of the net.
Six different Terps had a shot attempt in the first half, a clear indicator that they were spreading the ball evenly and effectively. Griffith himself had four shot attempts in 27 minutes of action in the first half.
With Georgetown struggling to string together offensive possessions in the first half, Maryland goalkeeper Niklas Neumann faced only one shot on goal through the first 45 minutes. The Terps outpaced the Hoyas 10:5 on shots through the first half and 5:1 in shots on goal.
“I thought in the first half, we played our best half of the year,” Cirovski said. “Our defensive pressure, our ability getting forward. The chances we created [were] outstanding.”
Georgetown came out more cohesive and began to string together better offensive possessions in the early stages of the second half. The Hoyas had a pair of good looking shot attempts that could have found the back of the net, but one was slightly too high above the crossbar and another was saved nicely by Neumann.
Maryland did not produce much offensively in the second half, failing to get near the goal often. A free kick off a yellow card in the 65th minute produced nothing as Georgetown stole the ball and took it downfield.
Starting in the 66th minute, the Hoyas had a frenzy of shots on goal, but still could not capitalize on any of them, failing to get into the scoring column. One shot ricocheted off the crossbar, while Neumann made a diving save on another.
“To be able to get some saves and help out the team… that’s what it really is all about,” Neumann said.
In the 78th minute, the Hoyas finally cracked the scoreboard, as a rocket from outside of the box soared high above Neumann’s fingertips and in for a goal. Panayotou scored the goal, building off of his Big East Freshman of the Week honors.
As the clock winded down to zero, Maryland could finally take a deep sigh of relief after what was a nerve wracking final 10 minutes, narrowly defeating Georgetown.
The Terps will be back in action on Friday when they take on Michigan in Ann Arbor to open up Big Ten conference play. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM.
