Maryland men’s soccer draws against UMBC, 1-1, in season opener

For 84 minutes, Maryland and UMBC were in a scoreless deadlock. Three minutes later, both teams had found the net.

Maryland attacker Luke Van Heukelum’s 85th minute goal was answered by an 87th minute header from UMBC’s Joseph Picotto, as the Terps tied their season opener, 1-1, on the road in a game where they largely dominated possession.

“It’s a teachable moment,” Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “We had a lead late with five minutes left in the game and there’s certain things that we need to do to close out a game like that that we didn’t do.”

The first 10 minutes of Maryland’s season showed who it was: a team that hadn’t played an official game in almost 10 months. The Terps struggled to maintain possession, trying to send long balls over the top to their forwards, many of which traveled too long out of bounds for Retriever throw-ins or goal kicks.

“In the first 15 minutes I don’t think either team made more than two passes in a row,” Cirovski said with a laugh. “Opening game soccer.”

The Terps slowly gained their footing as the half went on, beginning to look more confident with possession and taking control of the flow of the match.

Junior transfer forward Sadam Masereka quickly emerged as a focal point of Maryland’s attack, taking on defenders with the ball at his feet and demonstrating an ability to change speeds in a flash.

However, despite having more of the ball, Maryland had difficulty generating chances in UMBC’s final third. The Terps repeatedly searched for long balls over the top of UMBC’s back four, most of which presented no real threat to the Retrievers.

It was a UMBC counter attack that resulted in the best chance of the opening half. Maryland’s back four appeared to have a complete miscommunication as they let a long ball run right between William Kulvik and Brian St. Martin. UMBC striker Alex Wroblewski got on the end of it and fired a lackluster shot towards freshman goalie Laurin Mack, who made the save with relative ease.

This represented a momentary lapse in what was a strong half for the Terps back line. Especially impressive was freshman center back Jace Clark — in for injured Bjarne Thiesen — who looked very composed in his first taste of collegiate soccer.

Maryland’s best chance came late in the half when Colin Griffith received a pass with his back to the goal. He turned and fired a shot low, but it was wide outside the left post.

The Terps headed to halftime with a relatively controlled half of soccer under their belt, but needing an offensive spark in the last 45 minutes.

If Maryland was controlling possession in the first half, it began to dominate early in the second half. The Terps held the ball in UMBC’s end for the vast majority of the first 25 minutes of the half, but remained unable to find the back of the net.

The Retrievers’ back line stayed disciplined and handled Maryland’s forwards Griffith, Van Heukelum and Max Rogers nicely. All three struggled to get touches in dangerous areas.

With around 20 minutes left, the Retrievers seemed to find new life, taking control of possession and generating some pressure via the wings.

At one point, a cross across the face of Maryland’s goal to the back post would have generated a go-ahead goal if forward Ryan Calheira kept his header under the crossbar.

It was on the back of this stretch that Maryland finally broke through. Kulvik played a through ball into Cameron Gerber, who then crossed it to the back post where Van Heukelum slid it into a gaping net.

“It feels really good to get a goal early on in the season in a tight game,” Van Heukelum said. “They were sitting in a low block so I knew I would get a chance eventually, and I just had to make it count.”

Maryland, needing to buckle down for the final five minutes, allowed UMBC to instantly bring pressure the other direction. Hans Nesheim crossed it to the back post where Picotto was waiting for an equalizing header, which he sent straight into the back of the net.

The game remained knotted in an underwhelming 1-1 tie for Maryland, who were looking to put the woes of last season behind them.

“It’s UMBC, it’s a Maryland derby, we knew it was going to be a scrappy game and we deserved to win, I think, but, yeah, we just got to move on from this,” Kulvik said.

Three things to know

1. Offensive answers remain unclear. Maryland struggled to find the net consistently in 2023, and despite the late goal, a clear answer did not emerge in its opening contest of 2024. Masereka appeared the most threatening player on the ball, sliding into the role that Kimani Stewart-Baynes played last season.

2. Injuries loom large. As Maryland searches for answers to its recent struggles, it doesn’t help that it’s missing multiple important players. Both Thiesen and Max Riley — who played significant minutes in 2023 — were out, and midway through the second half, Rogers went down with an injury that saw him exit the game.

3. Terps continue to play loose. Typical on Cirovski teams, Maryland’s midfielders moved all around the team’s 4-4-2 formation. Wingers were swapping sides as well as dropping back defensively. Captain Alex Nitzl played in four different positions throughout the game in the midfield and back line.

“The formation is the starting point, but then we ask our players to have a lot of fluidity in their movement out there and apply the principles of the game when we have the ball, rather than be rigid,” Cirovski said.