Maryland women’s soccer was crushed Thursday night, as No. 5 Michigan State cruised to a 5-0 victory at Ludwig Field.
The Terps were held to just one shot on goal, while the Spartans tormented Maryland’s back line all night.
“Obviously a tough result. … I thought that the first half wasn’t our best showing, but I thought we were regrouped at halftime and adjusted some things, and I thought that we competed,” head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer said. “It was unfortunate that we gave up some goals during set pieces.”
Michigan State struck in the second minute, scoring a goal on its first chance of the match. Meg Hughes drove toward the net with relative ease and took a shot that hit the post. But Bella Najera got the rebound off the post and put it in to give Michigan State an early lead.
The Spartans added to their lead in the seventh minute, as Emily Mathews pinged a shot off the crossbar and in. It was a Michigan State free kick that led to assists from Justina Gaynor and Najera. The free kick came off a foul by Hannah Schapiro when she went for the ball, but inadvertently kicked Gabby Mueller. The free kick headed right to Mathews, who soared it in.
Maryland saw its first resemblance of an opportunity in the 10th minute, but the Terps lost possession due to offsides. As play drew on, the Spartans still earned chances, but it wasn’t as dominating as the opening 10 minutes.
At the same time, the Terps looked like they were building chances in the offensive zone. On one occasion, Kennedy Bell received a good through pass, but Michigan State stymied the opportunity.
Liz Beardsley made her first save of the match in the 27th minute on a Maggie Illig shot that looked to be going off the post.
Despite giving up the two early goals, Maryland weathered the storm of Michigan State’s first half. The Terps were unable to produce any shot attempts in the first half, but kept play in the middle of the pitch.
Michigan State struck again in the 41st minute. Hughes quickly passed to the corner, finding Ella Janz, who crossed it through a teammate’s legs, allowing for a Allie Mairn tap-in for her first career goal. The cross in between the legs baited the Maryland defenders enough to allow Michigan State to put it in easily.
The Terps did not record a shot in the half, but Michigan State had eight shot attempts and four shots on goal. The Spartans accumulated five corners, while the Terps didn’t have any. Maryland struggled to push the ball into the offensive zone during the first half.
“It was just individual battles, and I thought that when we had the ball, we turned it over too easily at moments,” Ryan Nemzer said.
Maryland got the ball in the offensive zone at the start of the second half. Peyton Bernard was on the attack and had a head of steam heading toward the net. However, she lost possession of the ball, and Michigan State regrouped and cleared it out.
In another instance, Schapiro got the ball and headed into the offensive zone. She eventually got into good position for a potential shot, but fell down.
In the 60th minute, Michigan State scored its fourth goal in beautiful fashion. Gaynor took a corner and placed it perfectly for a Julia Belli header, who put it in past Beardsley.
Maryland then got its first and only shot of the match, one that was placed on net. Madison Krakower took a free kick that was saved by Kaitlyn Parks. Parks’ save led directly to two straight Maryland corners that proved unsuccessful. This served as Maryland’s best chance of the match.
Michigan State later had a flurry of chances in front of the net. A Gabby Mueller shot was blocked before Beardsley made a diving save on a Najera shot.
Then, Delaney DeMartino’s shot was blocked. Maryland was unable to put a shot on net on this opportunity, but it seemed like the Terps were gaining some late momentum.
“From the first half to the second half, we did grow into the game,” Ryan Nemzer said.
Beardsley made two more saves, settling into her game later on.
But Michigan State added a fifth goal in the 89th minute, when Janz scored off an assist by Cassidy Corcione.
Maryland was ultimately outshot 17-2 and shots on net were 9-1 in favor of Michigan State. Corners were 11-2 in favor of the Spartans as well.
Three yellow cards were assessed in the match. Katie Coyle and Bell got yellow cards for Maryland and Mairn got a yellow card for Michigan State.
Three things to know
1. Spartans’ domination. Everything went Michigan State’s way Thursday night. The Spartans crushed the Terps in every phase of the match.
2. Turnage-Morales leaves with an injury. Sophomore defender Tahirah Turnage-Morales was taken out the game with an apparent injury. She walked off the field with some help and was taken to the medical tent on a cart.
3. Rough start to Big Ten play. Maryland had high aspirations for the start of Big Ten play, but Thursday night was not the Terps’ night.
“[The Big Ten is] one of the hardest conferences in the country,” Ryan Nemzer said.” If you look at the standings right now, I think there’s eight or nine [teams] in the top 25.”
