Coming into the second half with a 1-0 lead, the Terps looked to protect their lead and add three points to their total.
However, that quickly went away in the 49th minute. Defender William Kulvik, seemingly attempting to deflect the ball up and out of bounds, didn’t put enough air into his kick. The ball looped into the back of Maryland’s goal as Kulvik fell to the ground in disbelief.
On what coach Sasho Cirovski called “a reasonably innocent looking ball that I don’t think anybody was gonna get on the end of,” the Panthers quickly flipped the momentum of the ballgame.
“We tried to make a play, but it was an instinctive decision that [Kulvik] made, and it was in the back of our net,” Cirovski said. “And that gave them life.”
A second half collapse highlighted by sloppy play from No. 7 Maryland men’s soccer led to a massive upset victory for High Point. Rather than extending their unbeaten streak to 10 matches, the Terps now have two ties and a loss in their last three matches, an unsightly streak heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
The Terps, looking to extend their unbeaten streak to double digits, wanted to place an emphasis on bringing the energy early and often. After conceding the first goal in the last three matches and trailing for nearly 90 out of 270 minutes, head coach Sasho Cirovski and his players echoed that a change needed to take place.
While High Point couldn’t create much offensive pressure to start the match, Maryland didn’t either, failing to register a shot attempt until forward Stefan Copetti’s crack in the 10th minute of action. His shot traveled right into the arms of Trent.
High Point’s first shot attempt came in the 17th minute, when midfielder Brendan Krueger shot was headed away by center back Chris Rindov.
Soon after, while momentum began to rise for the Panthers following a steal, Terps forward Hunter George quickly squashed all of it.
In the 19th minute, the senior took the ball and raced forward from beyond the midfield mark. George, with three High Point defenders between his path and the goal, nutmegged defender Holland Rula, creating a one-on-one opportunity with High Point goalkeeper Holden Trent.
The forward shot a rocket off his left foot that Trent failed to muster a hand on, and the ball sailed into the back left corner of the net to put the Terps on the board first.
It marked Maryland’s first time scoring the initial goal in a match since its bout against Old Dominion.
“We played a great first half,” Cirovski said. “We scored a great goal, maybe deserved another, so that was a positive. We want to get the first goal.”
The Panthers didn’t put much pressure on Maryland goalkeeper Niklas Neumann in the first half outside of forcing a jumping save in the 29th minute.
With midfielder Malcolm Johnston and forward German Giammattei sitting out in this one, Maryland tapped into its freshmen for early subs. Forward Colin Griffith, who played a combined 50 minutes over the last five matches, checked in for the final 14 minutes of the first half. Freshman Albi Ndrenika also subbed in for the final 10 minutes of the first period.
Maryland created more opportunities towards the end of the first half, as midfielder Griffin Dillon put up a shot that was saved with about eight minutes remaining. By the end of the period, 64% of the Terps’ action was spent in their attacking half, a clear sign of pressure being generated.
Entering the second half with a 1-0 lead, the Terps focused on protecting the score while hopefully tacking an insurance goal.
Those plans quickly faded when in the 49th minute, Kulvik scored an own-goal on an attempted deflection out of bounds.
“Those are key moments, the mental moments,” Cirovski said. “We made a key mistake, and that does change the tide, gives them belief and then it becomes an uphill battle in the second half.”
With the score knotted at one, George attempted to make a quick response. The forward shot a bullet off his left foot from outside the box, but it sailed just a bit too high above the net.
Maryland continued to create chances throughout the second half. A Rindov header near the goal in the 60th minute had a little too much on it. Midfielder Joshua Bolma put up a shot in the 71st minute that missed wide left of the goal.
Despite the opportunities seeming to flow for the Terps, they weren’t able to take advantage and convert.
Maryland’s backline also held strong, only allowing three shot attempts up until this point.
However, that quickly changed in the 76th minute, when Kreuger led a breakaway up the field for the Panthers. The midfielder sent a pass to the man running with him, midfielder/forward Sebastian Chalbaud. Chaulbaud took a touch and shot the ball off his right foot. Neumann got a hand on it but the ball had too much power, continuing into the back of the net.
The goal gave High Point a 2-1 lead with only 15 minutes remaining.
Maryland’s gameplan began to unravel following the goal, as High Point put up two more shot attempts in the next six minutes, doubling its shot total from just a few minutes prior.
With the Terps desperately searching for an answer, an opportunity arose with five minutes left. George took a free kick, but the ball sailed about ten feet too high and kept the score the same.
Maryland had a few more last-minute chances in the final moments, but the High Point defense buckled down and secured the massive upset victory over the top-ten ranked Terps.
“Thankfully, it’s not the last game of the season and we have a chance to hopefully learn and become stronger from it,” Cirovski said.
Maryland will look to regroup for a huge Friday night matchup with second-place Michigan State, a true make-or-break match for the club that now finds itself clinging to a slim conference lead.
