Again unable to score, Maryland women’s soccer loses to Wisconsin, 3-0

Thursday marked the first of Maryland women’s soccer’s two straight home games to end the season, but the fans at Ludwig Field weren’t given much to cheer for.

The home team’s offense sputtered all night, and the visiting Wisconsin Badgers scored three goals in the first half to silence the crowd.

Facing an uphill battle, the Terps stopped and took a seat, giving up a first-half hat trick to forward Emma Jaskaniec in their seventh straight loss, 3-0.

Continuing its recent struggles, Maryland had no connectivity between its players. It has gone nine straight games without a goal, its longest scoring drought this century.

The score may not be a positive representation, but Maryland’s defense did its best to limit the Badgers’ chances. Wisconsin totaled eight shots, only five in the first half. But every one of the Badgers’ first-half shots were on goal, making it hard for Maryland to defend against their clinical finishing.

The Terps struggled to connect on passes in the middle of the field and lost practically all of their one-on-one opportunities. Maryland finished the game with only four shots, continuing its struggles in the final third.

“I think [the Badgers are] like very physical, so obviously like we needed to go in and like, win first and second balls,” forward Peyton Bernard said.

With usual fullback Kennedy Bell starting in the middle of the defense, Maryland’s new-look back line was able to hold the Badgers silent for over 10 minutes. In the 12th minute, an Aryssa Mahrt shot was stopped by a diving Liz Beardsley.

But it didn’t take long for Wisconsin to get on the board, as a beautiful run of passes in the 15th minute ended with Jaskaniec lightly marked in front of goal. She stuck out her left foot, and while the finish wasn’t clean, it eked past a frozen Beardsley off the right post and in.

Jaskaniec added another just a few minutes later with a brilliant strike. During build-up play in the middle of the field, midfielder Ashley Martinez back-heeled a pass to Jaskaniec at the edge of the box, who immediately fired a blast into the top-left corner.

It took just over 20 more minutes before Jaskaniec decided to complete a first-half hat trick. She got the ball at her feet in transition and struck it with her right foot up and over Beardsley.

“Her speed is deadly, and I mean if you give her a shot, it’s you know usually 10 out of 10 times on frame,” head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer said, “we lost her, and she got in behind us too many times in the first half.”

In the second half, neither team was able to cultivate a promising chance. The closest Maryland came to scoring was in the 77th minute, when a Madison Krakower shot from outside the box sailed just over the crossbar.

The Terps looked to create chances in the dwindling minutes of the game, pushing numbers forward into the attack. But they were unable to put one in the back of the net, sealing their goalless fate.

Three things to know

1. The Terps’ first-half struggles continued. No matter how many changes the coaches have made, Maryland’s defense has struggled early in Big Ten play. The Terps have given up two goals within the first 20 minutes in four of their last six games. Before conference play, Maryland had only given up two goals in the first half all season.

2. New formation makes no difference. Ryan Nemzer looked to shake things up Thursday, playing a 4-1-4-1 formation and shifting many players from their usual positions. With the lopsided scoreline and the goal drought continuing, it didn’t have much of an impact.

Nemzer started Bell at the center of the backline due to an injury.

3. A historical scoring drought. Thursday’s performance put this year’s Terps in the history books, marking the first time this century Maryland women’s soccer hasn’t scored in nine straight games.