Maryland honored its seniors on Sunday with a crushing 4-0 victory over VCU.
The Terps dominated early and often, as they got out to a two-goal lead within the first 10 minutes of the game. Maryland added one more score in the first half and another in the second half as it cruised to its third victory of the season.
“I’m really proud of the team’s performance,” Maryland head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer said. “We’ve spent a lot of time in the final third, spent a lot of time in being efficient and having a better shot selection, and I thought we did that today.”
The Terps broke the ice in the fifth minute when Kennedy Bell scored off a pass from Taryn Raibon in front. Bell put it in off her left foot for her second goal of the season.
Bell wasn’t done there, though, scoring again three minutes later. She received a pass from Peyton Bernard, who recovered a VCU deflection. Bell got on the rush and roofed the shot off her right foot.
Bell’s brace within the first eight minutes of the match put her on hat trick watch. The last time a Maryland player recorded a brace — when one player scores twice in a match — was Aug. 27, 2023, when Lisa McIntyre scored twice against James Madison.
“I think it’s so it shows that we can score goals,” Bell said. “Personally, it just shows … you can do that. You can get back to where you were.”
Maryland goalkeeper Liz Beardsley was tested for the first time in the 11th minute, as she made a huge diving save off a Carleigh Frilles shot.
Bell almost notched the hat trick in the 21st minute, but failed to get a shot off, unable to get a good enough touch.
However, the Terps weren’t done for the first half. In the 25th minute, Bernard scored off assists from Ellie Egeland and Emily Lenhard to put Maryland up three. It was Bernard’s first career goal.
Beardsley made three saves following the Terps’ third goal. First, she stymied an Amelia Horton shot that ended with a wide shot after a rebound. Then, Beardsley deflected a shot over the net for a corner. On the ensuing corner, Beardsley made a relatively routine save to stop the VCU chance.
The Terps scored on every shot attempt they had in the opening 45 minutes. The first-half shot totals favored VCU, 5-3, but Beardsley made four saves. VCU also had more corners in the half, 2-1.
VCU replaced goalkeeper Allison Karpovich with Mia Pongratz to start the second half.
Beardsley made another save in the 49th minute, diving to stop a Y-Van Nguyen shot. Beardsley then made another save in the 58th minute, fending off a Kanna Matsuhisa boot that came from a VCU corner.
As the second half moved on, VCU largely controlled the play, looking to chip into the three-goal deficit. The Rams had six corners in the first 25 minutes of the half.
Despite the VCU momentum, the Terps struck next, as Delaney DeMartino scored to give Maryland a four-goal advantage in the 70th minute. Bell earned the assist on the goal; she had a foot on three of four Maryland goals.
The Terps went to their bench shortly after the fourth goal, taking out all of the starters. As a result, defender Drew Bernard entered the match for the first time in her career.
VCU nearly score its first goal of the match in the 80th minute, but the play was called for offside, preserving the shutout for Beardsley. Beardsley then made another save, stopping a Isabella Cahall shot in the 81st minute.
Maryland scored on four of its five shot attempts in the match, and VCU failed to make a save on Sunday. Corners (11-2) and shot attempts (10-5) both favored VCU, despite Maryland’s huge victory.
“We spent a lot of time in the final third,” Ryan Nemzer said. “We spoke about, once again, being efficient, you know. And I feel like the last few games, you know, we’ve had close to 15 plus shots, but maybe the shot selection wasn’t the best.”
Three things to know
1. A day to remember for Bell. Bell had a monster performance on Sunday against VCU. She earned a brace within the first 10 minutes of the match, scoring both of Maryland’s first two goals. Bell also added an assist in the second half. She had a few opportunities to get a hat trick, but was ultimately unable to complete the trifecta.
“Obviously, it was nice to get that, but more happy that our team was able to come together and do what we were talking about.” Bell said. “It’s been not the season that we thought we would have at first, but we talked about it and talked about how to change it before we get to Big Ten (play). And I think we carried it out today.”
2. Beardsley’s spectacular shutout. Beardsley made seven saves in a winning effort on Senior Day. After she was honored before the game, she had a stellar performance, stopping multiple difficult shots to keep VCU off the score card. Beardsley recorded her third shutout of the season and fell one short of her career-high in saves.
“I keep saying it, she’s a pro. You know, she’s phenomenal. I thought the last save that she came up with to keep that shut out, I mean, that that was unbelievable.” Ryan Nemzer said. “She was more excited about the team’s performance than her own performance, and that’s a true leader and a captain, but Liz is phenomenal.”
3. Most goals under Ryan Nemzer. Maryland scored four goals in a dominating effort against VCU. That marks the most goals the Terps have scored under the three-year regime of Ryan Nemzer.
“I think, just knowing that we can put goals in the back of the net, that is a confidence booster,” Katie Coyle said. “Being able to see it, and then going into film, like a few days before, and watching things that we’ve done well to the visualize scoring in the future is important.”
