Preview: Maryland women’s soccer looks to end five-match skid against Ohio State

Maryland women’s soccer (2-6-5) hopes to end its ever-mounting late season backslide against No. 20 Ohio State (8-2-3) Thursday.

The Terps, who started off strong in Big Ten play last month with an upset win over Michigan, have since watched their season slip away as five different teams from the loaded conference each got a turn beating up on Maryland.

Maryland’s latest defeat came in its Sunday matchup against Penn State, a match in which the Nittany Lions would prevail, 2-0. The Terps’ second straight shutout marked their fourth of the season, three of which in conference play.

“That was the first time in program history that we’ve out-shot Penn State, so that’s a positive,” midfielder Catherine DeRosa said. “We need to capitalize on our chances, and we’ve created enough to win the game today and we need to do better to capitalize off of that.”

The match started with a more energized Maryland offense compared to what’s been seen since the Terps started slumping, with the Terps creating shots up the field from the get-go. Nothing came from their early shots, but if nothing else, they were putting themselves in a position to capitalize.

Natalie Wilson put Penn State on the board in the 21st minute, and the Nittany Lions remained in the lead the rest of the way.

Maryland ended the half without a response, and started the second period on the wrong foot. Various players contributed to a series of yellow cards and fouls in the opening minutes, culminating in Cori Dyke doubling the lead less than two minutes in. Despite continuing to fight, the Terps never executed the comeback.

Looking past the fact that Penn State only took eight shots to Maryland’s 12, the Maryland coaching staff should be unnerved by the fact that all eight of the Nittany Lions’ attempts came within range of goal. Not only did Penn State pile up multiple scores on the strong side of Maryland’s team, its defense, but the Nittany Lions did it from a close range every single time. The Terps, for their part, shot within range close four out of twelve times.

The last time a Maryland player scored was against Wisconsin on September 29th, when star forward Alina Stahl got one to go off of a Mia Isaac feed. All of the major players in the Maryland system have been quiet since. This also includes forward Mikayla Dayes, who’s scored both of her goals this season against conference opponents, and forward Alyssa Poarch, who leads the team in shots taken (34).

Ohio State, who remain the only top-five team in the conference who has yet to square off against Maryland, has been surging in the past two weeks. The Buckeyes enter off the heels of their second draw in five matches, albeit after having won three in a row going into their matchup against Nebraska last Saturday.

Ohio State struck first when forward Emma Sears buried a goal at the 14’ mark, her sixth goal of the season, the team high. Reigning Big Ten Player of the Week forward Kayla Fischer was credited with the assist, her first of the season.

After Nebraska pulled even before going into the half, the Buckeyes came back the other way and Sears returned the favor. Her pass to Fischer in the 59th minute was capped off with Fischer netting her third goal in as many games, and her fourth total on the season.

Nebraska responded with a match-tying goal in the 86th minute to avoid the loss.

The Buckeyes are undefeated against Maryland all-time, holding an 8-0-2 head-to-head record. Ohio State has won each of the last four matchups. The Buckeyes host on Thursday in their Annual Pink Game to honor breast cancer survivors.

The Terps, who have yet to win a game on the road this season will have to make some changes if they want to put this losing streak behind them and make the most of these last two weeks of the season.

“We talk a lot about the process, and not about results,” coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer said. “We talk a lot about getting one percent better, we talk a lot about controlling what we can control, and that’s us.”

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Thursday and will take place at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.