Preview: Maryland men’s soccer searches for first road win of season at Penn State

Maryland men’s soccer (1-2-2) looks to get its first road win of the season when it faces off with Penn State (3-1-2) Tuesday.

Maryland is coming off a 2-2 tie to Michigan at home. The Terps, who were winning at halftime, gave up a second-half goal paving the way for the Wolverines to secure the draw. 

On the other hand, the Nittany Lions are coming off a high point in their 3-0 dismantling of Ohio State on the road. They have looked great to begin the season, earning 1-1 draws against then-No. 1 Syracuse and then-No. 5 Pittsburgh.

A year ago, Maryland and Penn State met in a match defined by high-octane offense ending in a 3-3 finish.

Now, Maryland’s offense looks to have regressed after losing a majority of its scoring production from a season ago ,while the Nittany Lions appear to sport an impressive attack.

Through its four games, Maryland scored just three goals and was shut out twice. 

As a result, coach Sasho Cirvski looked to create some change, switching formations from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2. And, at least initially, the change looked to be a positive. 

In their last match against Michigan, the Terps put together the team’s best first half of the season with two goals. To add to the team’s high spirits in the first half, both the goals were career firsts for freshmen Kenny Quist-Therson and Luke van Heukelum.

However, the offense was unable to continue that pace for the remainder of the game as it failed to find a game winner.

“I thought we played quite well the last 30 minutes of the first half [vs. Michigan] and should have carried that momentum into the second half,” Cirovski said. “But we were not good enough in the final third once again to get that third goal.” 

Senior goalkeeper Jamie Lowell was not so disappointed in the offense, applauding his attackers’ efforts.

“Our offense started to get going,” Lowell said. “We’ve got a huge game against Penn State coming up and…we just have to lock in on the defensive side.”

With the Maryland defense coming off possibly its worst performance of the season and looking to bounce back, it will be a battle of wills between the two sides to see who can win that side of the field.

That will be a tough ask for the Terps though, because Penn State is averaging nearly two goals per match, ranking second in the Big Ten. 

The Terps will also have to find a way to combat the recent form of fifth year forward Liam Butts. After an incredible performance versus Ohio State, Butts is the Nittany Lions’ top point-getter with three goals and two assists. The forward scored all three of his goals with a hat trick versus the Buckeyes this past Friday. 

On top of this, Maryland’s first conference road game will be played during a themed match that the Nittany Lions do not often lose.

Penn State will be hosting their eleventh annual Mack Brady Match, which promotes the Mack Brady Penn State Soccer Fund that supports and develops goalkeepers in the program, according to the Fund’s website. The Nittany Lions will be seeking to win the annual match for the seventh time in a row.

Maryland is looking to get out of its slump while Penn State is looking for back-to-back victories for the first time this season.

Kickoff between the rivals is set for 6 p.m. at Jeffrey Field in State College.