No. 8 Maryland men’s soccer gets set for the second and final match of its road trip against Northwestern.
The Terps are riding high, currently boasting a seven-game unbeaten streak that most recently saw them defeat Rutgers in a three-goal comeback. The unbeaten streak is tied for the longest since 2018, the same season Maryland won the national championship.
The match with Rutgers was an up-and-down affair, a roller coaster performance for both sides. After allowing two goals within just over a two-minute span early in the match, the Terps seemed helpless against the lethal Scarlet Knights attack.
Both goals came from Big Ten leading scorer MD Myers, who has accounted for more than ⅓ of the Scarlet Knights’ total scores this season.
Myers put Maryland in an early hole, but the offense and defense buckled down for the remainder of the game, scoring three unanswered goals to secure the victory.
The goal that got the Terps on the board was scored by forward Hunter George in the 25th minute.
Midfielder Malcolm Johnston’s game-tying goal in the 63rd minute was the true highlight of the night, though. The senior took the header from forward Stefan Copetti and bicycle-kicked the ball through the back of the net, good for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
“I’ve challenged [Johnston] to really showcase more of his abilities,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “He’s really picked up his overall influence in the game over the last four or five games.”
Maryland completed the remarkable comeback in the 74th minute, when defender Nick Richardson shot a rocket off the goalpost that ricocheted into the net.
Richardson scored his third goal of the season, continuing to become a surprising offensive weapon after recording zero goals through his first three years as a Terp.
Richardson’s goal put Maryland on top and the defense came up with some major stops to hand Rutgers its first loss of Big Ten play. The Terps remained undefeated in the conference slate.
“[Cirovski] preaches it in us that we have to have a standard of excellence and that was showing today,” Richardson said. “We have to be one of those teams that never quits, never has a chance to be out of the game, and getting that big goal before half and then pushing them when our backs were against the wall … showed great resilience from us.”
The match against Rutgers also marked the return of goalkeeper Niklas Neumann, who had missed the previous four games with a knee injury. Neumann gave up the two early goals to Myers, but settled down to make two huge saves in the second half which helped secure the victory.
The win brought Maryland to the top of the Big Ten picture, firmly in the lead with 10 total points. Penn State, Rutgers and Michigan State are all within three points of the Terps. With three of the Terps’ remaining four conference matches of the regular season coming against teams with a below .500 conference record, the top spot in the standings is theirs to lose.
Northwestern is certainly not having the season it hoped for, boding a 1-6-3 overall record, good for last place in the Big Ten. The Wildcats sit at 25 goals allowed on the season, the most in the conference. Northwestern has scored the second-fewest goals (11).
One Northwestern player to keep an eye is forward Justin Weiss. The junior led the Wildcats in points last season with 18, and has added three more goals and two assists to his total this year.
The only other Wildcat with multiple goals on the season is graduate defender Ethan Dudley, who has two goals and one assist.
Northwestern will have its work cut out going against the best team in the Big Ten, while Maryland will be the heavy favorites against the Big Ten bottom feeder.
Kickoff from Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
