No. 9 Maryland men’s soccer suffers first loss of season to No. 20 Denver, 2-0

Down 1-0, No. 9 Maryland males’s soccer discovered itself on the mercy of No. 20 Denver, which was in full management for the primary quarter-hour. After senior defender Chris Rindov managed to stop one other Pioneer objective, senior goalkeeper Niklas Neumann was challenged with a penalty kick.

Sophomore midfielder Sam Bassett snaked by way of the protection and into the field however was tripped by redshirt sophomore midfielder Joe Suchecki. With a one-on-one alternative and an opportunity to take a 2-0 lead, Bassett didn’t disappoint, drilling the shot.

This two-goal deficit proved to be an excessive amount of for the Terps to deal with as each one among their pictures on objective had been misdirected, leading to a 2-0 loss in School Park on Friday evening. Maryland now stands at 1-1-1 on the season with a Monday-night matchup in opposition to Virginia looming.

“It was a really irritating efficiency tonight, actually not the start of the sport that we wished,” head coach Sasho Cirovski stated. “We all the time discover a approach to get stronger. We’ll check out some issues and tweak what we have to, however we had been second-best all evening.”

In its final house sport earlier than Massive Ten play, Maryland seemed to placed on a present in entrance of a rowdy crowd at Ludwig Area on Friday evening.

Gamers flew to the grass within the first 5 minutes as each groups weren’t afraid to get bodily. The highest-20 matchup didn’t disappoint within the opening minutes as Maryland’s fan base, labeled “The Crew,” obtained loads of motion.

The Terps’ set piece struggles continued in opposition to Denver because the Pioneers capitalized within the sixth minute. Junior defender Ronan Wynne parked himself proper exterior the objective space as sophomore midfielder Sam Bassett launched a nook kick throughout the field. Towering over his defender, Wynne headed the ball into the underside proper nook of the objective, giving the Pioneers a 1-0 lead.

With the ball primarily in Denver’s place, it was capable of hearth off shot after shot. With the ball within the field, senior goalkeeper Niklas Neumann discovered himself out of place. However, senior defender Chris Rindov was capable of sneak to the objective line and deflect a shot headed in direction of the web.

Rindov was not there within the seventeenth minute, although, as Neumann discovered himself on an island awaiting a penalty kick. Bassett blasted the ball to the correct of the web, too quick for Neumann to react.

Now trailing by two, Maryland wanted a response. Redshirt junior defender Nick Richardson tried to offer that for the Terps, however his first shot of the sport was scooped up by Denver freshman goalkeeper Isaac Nehme. Senior ahead Hunter George then rattled off back-to-back pictures, however he couldn’t convert.

Through the subsequent 10 minutes, Maryland was restricted on the offensive finish as Neumann recorded his first two saves of the match. As the ultimate 5 minutes of the half approached, every crew was capable of ship a number of pictures, together with George, who had his third and fourth pictures saved.

The Terps’ unhealthy luck peaked within the forty fourth minute, when redshirt sophomore midfielder Joshua Bolma was tripped and injured. Ludwig Area waited with bated breath as its star participant winced in ache for the second straight sport. Bolma was capable of stroll off the pitch, however Maryland couldn’t afford any setbacks because it went into halftime down two targets.

Just like the primary half, the start of the second half was full of shut calls. Neumann and Nehme traded three consecutive saves within the first three minutes as each offenses had been getting ready to scoring.

With Denver taking part in conservatively, Maryland was unable to interrupt by way of its protection. The Terps didn’t document one other shot on objective as they picked up their first lack of the season.

Three issues to know

1. Accidents proceed to plague Maryland. Sunday evening’s sport noticed a number of Terps limp off the sector, clearly banged up after a hard-fought sport in opposition to Liberty. Sophomore defender William Kulvik was helped off the sector by two trainers and Bolma suffered a head damage within the first minute. It appeared like Maryland was well-rested to start Friday evening’s match in opposition to Denver, however issues shortly turned for the worst.

Within the forty fourth minute, Bolma took a shot to the legs, leading to a close to 10-minute damage timeout. The star midfielder was capable of stroll off the sector and return to play, however Maryland will want him —together with the remainder of the Terps — wholesome if it needs to defeat Virginia on Monday.

“Now we have some skillful, fast guys they usually’re gonna get fouled and, you understand, we’ve to make groups repay of these fouls,” Cirovski stated.

2. Isaac Nehme was a brick wall. Nehme was serviceable in Denver’s first two video games this season, permitting two targets with out recording a save. This was not the case on Friday as Nehme was possessed, shutting out the Terps on his approach to 5 saves. If Nehme can blossom into an elite keeper, the Pioneers will solely proceed to climb up the nationwide rankings.

“It was an excellent crew effort. Their entire backline was hungry. They actually denied strains. They had been very compact. As an entire they only performed very nicely defensively,” Richardson stated.

3. Set items proceed to kill the Terps. Each of Denver’s targets in opposition to Maryland got here on set items, and this isn’t a coincidence. Within the Terps’ 1-1 tie in opposition to Liberty, they had been locked in defensively, barley letting the Flames get previous midfield. Liberty was solely capable of get off two pictures, each of which had been off set items. This can be a weak point that must be addressed if Maryland needs to get again to the School Cup.

“That’s the primary objective that I hate to see. The worst objective that I can conceive is a penalty and a nook,” Neumann stated. “Now we have sheets up within the locker room, everyone is aware of the place [they’re] purported to be, and on the finish of the day you simply obtained to execute and do your job and we simply didn’t and that simply can’t occur.”

“It’s not neuroscience on the market. It’s only a couple those who pulled out of place,” Cirovski added. “These issues ought to be correctable they usually shouldn’t be taking place, however they do, and we’ll have to deal with it and practice it and ensure it doesn’t occur once more.”