Maryland women’s soccer suffers first loss of season to No. 24 Wake Forest, 1-0

Wake Forest workforce captain and graduate midfielder Giovanna DeMarco had a wide-open probability to offer her workforce a lead within the sixtieth minute, and he or she did simply that. Her perfectly-delivered prime nook strike was all of the Demon Deacons wanted to finish Maryland girls’s soccer’s undefeated spell because it fell to Wake Forest, 1-0, on Thursday evening in Faculty Park.

Final Thursday, the Terps tied Georgetown 1-1 for his or her first optimistic outcome in opposition to a ranked opponent in three seasons. On Sunday in opposition to George Mason, Meghan Ryan Nemzer earned her first win as Maryland’s head coach and the workforce’s first win in 367 days.

Thursday evening, that spell of positives got here to an in depth with the one-goal dwelling loss to No. 24 Wake Forest.

“They [the players] weren’t proud of the outcome, in order that makes me completely happy as a coach. These are the groups you’re going to want to compete in opposition to if you wish to win,” a disheartened, however not discouraged Nemzer mentioned.

A Wake Forest workforce that just about by no means concedes — they’ve let up only one objective this season — noticed Maryland drop attacking gamers into the midfield to clog up area, getting a style of its personal drugs.

The Demon Deacons began the sport with an amazing press, instantly discovering themselves in and across the Terps’ 18-yard field from the onset. For the primary 10 minutes, although, regardless of a heavy Wake assault, Maryland’s defenders stood tall — a typical theme on the evening.

The likes of graduate defender Amanda Schafer and heart again Christa Waterman got here up massive with a few huge tackles, stifling any harmful seems for the Demon Deacons.

Slowly, the Terps had been capable of finding themselves extra on the ball and possess into Wake Forest’s half.

Each groups did not file a shot inside the sport’s opening 20 minutes, largely as a result of referee permitting little-to-no physicality; the official known as an especially tight sport on each side, particularly within the midfield. Fifteen whole fouls calls had been made with a yellow card given to Wake Forest by the half’s finish.

“We wished to make the sport a bit of bit extra bodily, you realize, and disrupt their rhythm. So [the officiating] did play into a bit of little bit of an element for us,” Nemzer mentioned.

By the opening 45 minutes, Wake Forest confirmed its defensive prowess.

The Terps did not handle a shot on objective all half, however the identical might be mentioned for the Demon Deacons.

Schafer was happy with how the Terps backline competed in opposition to a top-25 Wake Forest assault.

“We now have skilled gamers [on defense] and we needed to do our jobs tonight,” she mentioned.

With simply three shot makes an attempt mixed all half — all of which sailed miles excessive — Wake Forest went into the break even at zero. Nemzer needed to be proud of how her workforce was in a position to comprise a robust, ranked opponent.

The Terps’ sound construction within the first half appeared to dissipate early within the second, although.

“I’m excited to return and watch the movie. We had been educating on the fly tonight,” Nemzer mentioned in response to the Terps being on their heels to begin the second half.

The Terps got here out sluggish to start the half. An animated Nemzer on the sidelines voicing her displeasure as Wake Forest started to search out their footing and get the ball in harmful areas close to Maryland’s senior goalkeeper Maddie Smith.

Wake Forest nearly broke the tie within the fiftieth minute, with freshman midfielder Caiya Hanks whistling a howitzer of a shot previous Smith’s ear simply inches broad of the submit.

As the sport as soon as once more settled down, the Terps had been in a position to get on the ball however nonetheless had points creating.

The dearth of manufacturing within the attacking half lastly caught as much as them, as within the 67th minute, the Demon Deacons took full benefit of a speedy counter assault.

The ball rolled to freshman ahead Alex Wooden’s ft from simply contained in the field, and whereas her preliminary shot was stopped by Smith, DeMarco made no mistake on the follow-up with a shot straight into the highest proper nook of the objective.

Down 1-0, desperation kicked in for Maryland, as Nemzer instructed her workforce up the sphere. However with the Terps unable to get something going within the remaining third all sport, Wake Forest was in a position to get on the ball with counter assaults.

Though clearly gassed because the eightieth minute approached, Maryland’s backline held on tight, spearheaded by a number of saves from Smith. Smith would end with three saves, all within the second half.

The Terps lastly began to place their foot on the gasoline with time dwindling, but it surely was too little, too late. Senior attacker Alina Stahl had the perfect of these probabilities, however her shot from simply in entrance of objective was blocked by a Demon Deacon defender.

The Terps defensive-minded 4-4-2 formation allowed them to stop, however not generate themselves.

“We caught with them for a lot of the sport. We did our plan and it labored for many of it,” junior midfielder Sydney City mentioned.

The Terps may have a terrific alternative on Sunday to rebound from Thursday’s loss, as they’ll tackle Saint Joseph’s at 1 p.m.

Three issues to know

1. The Terps suffered their first lack of the season. Wake Forest was at all times going to supply an immense problem for the Terps, and the defensively-sound Demon Deacons didn’t let Maryland generate a lot of something on the offensive finish. Though it was not a poor exhibiting from Nemzer’s workforce, the artistic high quality of the Terps was a no-show Thursday evening.

2. Maryland was blanked for the primary time this season. On the scoreboard and stat sheet, it was a depressing 90 minutes of assault for Maryland. The Terps registered only one shot on objective Thursday evening, with Juliana Lynch seeing an extended nook trickle on internet, however credit score is deserved for an excellent Wake Forest workforce which has now allowed simply 17 targets over their previous 29 video games.

3. A late push wasn’t sufficient. Nemzer has preached the truth that her workforce must compete for 90 minutes — not only a half, or in Thursday’s case, 10 minutes. They confirmed little or no hazard within the attacking finish tonight, and after they did later within the contest, they nonetheless couldn’t drive a significant shot on internet.