No. 7 Maryland men’s soccer (7-1-3) returns home Friday for another Big Ten matchup, this time against Wisconsin (4-5-2).
After drawing 1-1 with Northwestern last Sunday, the Terps saw their unbeaten streak extend to eight straight matches. Even with the streak continuing, the general sense after the match was that more could have been done to secure the win. An inability to connect passes in the final third doomed Maryland’s hopes of defeating a Northwestern team that finds itself at the bottom of the Big Ten standings.
“We’ll keep working on trying to become a little bit better in our attacking play,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “We’re still trying to make sure the connections are strong and that we become dangerous when we have the ball.”
Outside of a Nick Richardson cross to a Stefan Copetti header which found the back of the net in the 74th minute, points for either side were difficult to come by. Northwestern goalkeeper Christian Garner made six tough saves, while Maryland’s backline kept the Wildcats to just three shots on goal.
In any case, Copetti’s goal was just enough to prevent Maryland from recording its first loss since Sep. 2 against Denver.
One contributing factor to the lack of offense against Northwestern was the absence of leading goal-scorer Malcolm Johnston. The senior midfielder has been a consistent source of offense this season, most recently scoring the match-tying goal against Rutgers on a bicycle kick. Johnston should be back on Friday after missing the Northwestern match with a concussion.
“[Johnston] really is our playmaker,” Copetti said. “He dictates the pace of the game when we need to slow things down … when we need a goal, he’s running around getting the ball, getting in good pockets.”
Looking ahead, Maryland has five matches remaining in the regular season, three of them against Big Ten opponents in Wisconsin, Michigan State and Indiana. The Terps are in a good position to earn their first Big Ten regular season title since 2016, sitting at the top of the table with 11 points. The next closest teams are Rutgers and Penn State tied with eight points.
Despite the possibility of a Big Ten regular season championship growing closer, Richardson doesn’t feel that the message has changed from Cirovski or his teammates.
“That’s been our goal the whole year,” Richardson said. “We know we have the quality and the team to do it. The message now is persistence and consistency.”
Friday’s match against the Badgers will be another test for the Terps as they continue through the demanding conference slate. Despite owning a 1-3 conference record, Cirovski said that Wisconsin is a hungry team looking to prove its worth against the current Big Ten leaders.
“[Wisconsin’s] record does not reflect how well they’ve played,” Cirovski said. “It’s a very good team. It’s a new coach. They have an energy about them right now that’s evident, so we’re looking forward to a big challenge.”
Defense has been the Badgers’ calling card thus far, allowing 12 goals on the season, second best in the conference to only Ohio State. They haven’t allowed more than one goal in a match since Sep. 23 against Rutgers. Maryland will have to find ways to score creatively against Wisconsin’s tough backline and goalkeeper Carter Abbott.
An area where Wisconsin has evidently struggled is on the offensive end. The Badgers had a streak of four games without a goal scored earlier in the season, and currently rank third worst in the Big Ten in that category.
The lone offensive bright spot for Wisconsin this season has been junior defender Keenan Maxwell, who has poured in five goals to go along with two assists and a team-leading 12 points.
The match begins at 5 p.m. and will take place at Ludwig Field in College Park.
