Maryland women’s soccer head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer enters her third year at the helm of the program, and after two underwhelming seasons, the pressure is on.
In 2023, the team finished with a 3-10-5 record, failing to win a single game — and score a goal — in conference play en route to eight straight losses to end the season.
The year prior was not much better. The Terps won just four games in 2022, three of which came against conference opponents, though.
After finishing last in the Big Ten standings in 2023, it can only go up for the Terps this year.
Here’s everything you need to know before Thursday.
Key losses
The Terps brought in the top recruiting class in the Big Ten — No. 9 nationally — last season, meaning they have abundance of young players back and ready to step up. However, they did lose a few impactful upperclassmen.
On the offensive end, Maryland lost team captain Catherine DeRosa, who was a mainstay in the Terps’ midfield over the last four years. In 2022, DeRosa led the team with four assists, but did not notch one last season, scoring two goals instead. She finished her Maryland career with four goals and four assists, and is now playing for Kentucky.
On the defensive end, the Terps lost defenders Caroline Koutsos and Eden White and midfielder Sydney Urban, who now plays for Rutgers. Koutsos transferred from UMBC before last season and played in all 18 matches, making 17 starts, in her lone season as a Terp. She also finished second on the team in minutes played with 1,553.
Meanwhile, Urban made 25 starts over the last two seasons and White started in 13 games last season.
Maryland also lost midfielder Sofi Vinas, who played in 33 games over the last two years, recording one goal and two assists.
Top returners
With virtually the rest of the team returning, the Terps should see some improvement on both offense and defense after their young core got a taste of collegiate soccer.
Offensively, Maryland returns its top two point scorers in junior midfielder Ava Morales and sophomore forward/midfielder Lisa McIntyre. Morales started 10 games last season and posted a team-high three goals, including the Terps’ only goal in their final 11 games. McIntyre started in 11 games and finished the year with two goals and an assist.
Sophomores Madison Krakower and Peyton Bernard also return. In their freshman campaigns, Krakower started in 13 of her 14 appearances and scored a goal while Bernard started in 16 games and assisted on two goals.
Defensively is where Maryland remains its strongest and most experienced, returning four primary starters — sophomore defender Kennedy Bell, senior defender Katie Coyle, senior midfielder Lauren Wrigley and senior defender Halle Johnson, as well as goalkeeper Liz Beardsley.
Bell and Beardsley were the only two Terps to start in all 18 games. Bell was the No. 34-ranked prospect in the class of 2023 and impressed during her freshman season, playing the third-most minutes on the team (1,545) and tallying an assist.
Beardsley was the only goalie to play for Maryland last season, recording a 66.3% save percentage, which ranked last among Big Ten starting goalies, and allowing 1.89 goals per game.
Coyle and Wrigley started in 16 games last season, while Coyle also scored a goal. Johnson only played in 10 games, but started in eight of them.
New additions
Ryan Nemzer secured another nationally-ranked recruiting class in 2024 with nine freshman joining the Terps this season.
With the team scoring just nine goals last year, forward/midfielder Kate Hawley, midfielders Emily Lenhard and Ellie Egeland and forward Gemma Davitian, the Terps’ only four-star recruit, are positioned best in terms of playing time. But with how poorly the team played as a whole last year, any freshman could see the field.
Ryan Nemzer also brought in two transfers: junior forward Delaney DeMartino and graduate defender Brooke Tracey. DeMartino spent the previous two seasons at Loyola (Md.) and finished last year with four goals and an assist.
Tracey played at Bucknell the last four seasons, earning first-team All-Patriot honors as a senior and third-team honors as a junior. She also started in all 21 games and played a team-high 1,914 minutes last year, helping Bucknell reach the NCAA Tournament.
Looking forward
The Terps kick off their 19-game regular season at Lehigh on Aug. 15, followed by a home match against Stony Brook on Aug. 18.
Six more nonconference games follow before Maryland begins Big Ten play on Sep. 12 at home against Michigan State. Maryland then takes on new conference foes Washington and Oregon on Sept. 19 and Sept. 22.
After seven more conference games, the regular season concludes on Oct. 27 at Rutgers.
