BALTIMORE, Maryland October 26, 2014 - With both the Big Ten and NCAA Soccer Championship Tournaments on the immediate horizon, the suddenly surging University of Maryland soccer team put on another impressive display Saturday night, ripping tenacious Santa Clara, 3-1, at Ludwig Field in College Park. It was the Terps' fifth straight win, and comes on the heels of their amazing turnaround, which is finally being recognized by the national soccer polls. Maryland was unranked after a series of defeats leading up to the midseason mark. A heartbreaking overtime loss at Northwestern was the nadir, as Maryland dropped to 3-5-2 overall on that sad Sunday afternoon in Illinois. Beginning with their next outing, however, Maryland's entire season changed. The troubles they had experienced from the outset of the season with scoring seemed to evaporate overnight. In succession now, the Terps have defeated Virginia Commonwealth, Penn State (a 4-0 rout over the then-undefeated and Big-Ten-leading Nittany Lions), Lehigh, Indiana (now ranked No. 1, and playing at home in Bloomington), and now the same Santa Clara team that had played No. 2 UCLA to a scoreless tie through two overtimes a few short weeks ago. Maryland is now ranked No. 14 in the Top Flight Division I poll. In the most recent NSCAA (Coach's) poll, they are unranked but with points. The NCAA, at their web page, is carrying the soccer RPI. In the latest edition of that thing the Terps are No. 23. None of these polls make any sense when you consider that the Terps beat Indiana in Bloomington and absolutely destroyed Penn State when it was undefeated. The Terps do not want to give these people any wiggle room when they already have five losses.
Maryland has three regular season games remaining, including Tuesday night at home against struggling but always tenacious Hartwick, and Saturday night at home against Ohio State. They then complete the regular season on the road at Rutgers. Penn State and Ohio State are tied for first with 12 points apiece. Maryland and Michigan State are right behind the two front runners with ten points each. Obviously, the Maryland game with Ohio State on Saturday night is of supreme importance, as the Terps make a late push for conference honors. And despite their spate of victories, it is imperative for them to continue. Maryland has literally forced themselves on NCAA selection committees for many years. It is impossible to deny a team that comes to the table every season with a dozen quality wins. This year might be different. They are in a new league that isn't familiar with them or their ability. And they opened the season with a series of dismal offensive performances. The plain truth is that Maryland relied heavily on Patrick Mullins the last two seasons, and they needed time and games to ween themselves away from that reliance. Now, they have. They also have Sasho Cirovski, fortunately, and he is one of the best coaches in the game. No one expected the present team to finish the season like they started it. The only question was whether the turnaround would be in time to permit them to earn a berth in the national tournament. That question has been answered in the positive also, providing they don't stumble during these final weeks of the regular season. They have two places to watch for such a stumble. The first is Saturday night against Ohio State and the second the final game of the regular season at Rutgers. Rutgers really scares me. Maryland will be ready for Ohio State. They are a huge name in any sport, and in the case of soccer, they are ahead of Maryland in the conference standings. But Rutgers is one of those street-fighters that love the mud and dust in front of the goal and manage to make your life miserable no matter what their record is coming in. The Scarlet Knights this season are an unenviable 5-9-1, including a last place Big Ten mark of 1-5-1. Their win was in overtime at Wisconsin early in the season. Their tie, which is also about their most impressive outing of the season, was a tie with Michigan State.
All three of Maryland's remaining matches, including tonight's with Hartwick, Saturday's with Ohio State and next Tuesday's with Rutgers in East Rutherford, start at 7 pm.
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