No. 12 Maryland men’s soccer shows resiliency with 2-1 win over Michigan State

The Terps remain undefeated in Big Ten play.

On Tuesday, No. 12 Maryland men’s soccer played Penn State to a 1-1 draw that left head coach Sasho Cirovski feeling empty.

With 10 minutes left against Michigan State, the Terps faced the threat of the exact same result Saturday in College Park. Instead, Sadam Masereka opened his Maryland goal scoring account at a crucial time to secure a win for the Terps, who now sit alone at the top of the Big Ten table.

“This is starting to look like a Maryland team again,” Cirovski said. “The way we’re starting to move the ball, the way we’re starting to press.”

Maryland came from behind to beat the Spartans, 2-1, in an intense Big Ten battle that saw four yellows and a red card.

“This has got to be my best win so far in a Maryland jersey ...” Max Rogers said. “... It was a massive result, almost felt like a six-point turnaround really, because we took three points off them and gave us three points.”

Maryland’s (5-1-4, 4-0-1 Big Ten) stout defense experienced some uncharacteristic early lapses that made its fans’ hearts skip a beat. Within the first five minutes, Laurin Mack played hero, diving down to his right and making a save to prevent an early Spartans goal from Jake Spadafora.

Minutes later, Spadafora picked up a loose ball and took a shot, but couldn’t hit the target, sending it just outside the right post.

From there, Maryland found its footing. It generated a couple chances on the other end, and more importantly, buckled down at the back.

The rest of the game’s first half was largely uneventful. The Terps demonstrated some promising build up that petered out. Each team produced just one shot on goal, Maryland’s being a Colin Griffith header that was easily collected by Michigan State keeper Zac Kelly.

Maryland seemed to make a conscious effort to turn the pressure up out of halftime, quickly generating its best chance of the game to that point in the form of a William Kulvik header that he knocked toward the bottom corner. It took a great diving save from Kelly to keep it out.

The Terps followed that up quickly with more opportunities in the Spartans’ final third, but were unable to take a lead. Seemingly out of nowhere on the other end, Brandon Munson let loose a shot that Mack pushed out of bounds for a Michigan State corner.

Then, Michigan State’s Jeremy Sharp whipped the ball into the front post for Will Eby, who nodded the ball beautifully across Mack’s face and into the far corner.

For the first time in almost a month, Maryland found itself trailing and at risk of dropping its first game since August. Fifteen minutes later, Colin Griffith, as he has done over and over lately, answered the call.

He collected the ball at the edge of the 18-yard box and curled it beautifully into the top right corner.

Maryland wasn’t satisfied there, though, and instantly hunted for the winner. Griffith almost found a brace when he went for goal from 6 yards out, but he struck the right post.

Two minutes later, Masereka found his goal off a Rogers feed across the face of goal that smashed off the bottom of the bar and in.

The Terps needed to protect their lead for seven minutes, and it wasn’t going to be easy. With three minutes to go Chris Steinleitner fouled Shion Soga. Soga retaliated with a shove into Steinleinter’s back, that got him sent off and incited a shoving match.

“Thankfully, none of our guys got involved in any of the silliness after,” Cirovski said, “I think guys did a pretty good job of trying to become peacekeepers.”

Despite the late chaos, the Terps held on to move to 5-1-4 on the season and 3-0-1 in conference play.

Three things to know

1. Terps concede from a set piece again. Maryland’s defense has held incredibly strong in conference play to this point, but with one glaring weakness: all three goals it has conceded came from set pieces. Eby’s header Saturday came far too easily.

2. Masereka answers the call. After being outplayed by freshman Aidan Sheppela in Tuesday night’s draw, Masereka picked a fantastic time for his first career goal. Beyond the score, his speed caused Michigan State’s wingbacks problems all night.

“Obviously it means a lot for me, because we came here to try to change what happened from last season,” Masereka said.

3. Ndrenika continues to shine. Both of Maryland goals were asissted by Albi Ndrenika out of the midfield. His return from injury has provided a spark to Maryland’s offense thus far.

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