BALTIMORE, Maryland November 3, 2014 - Everything fell Maryland's way over the weekend, including their heart-stopping 1-0 win over then-second-place Ohio State, so that when they take the pitch Wednesday night at 8th place Rutgers, they know that if they can win, they will be the Big Ten Regular Season Soccer Champions. Such an accomplishment is a tremendous feat in itself, especially after the dismal start to Maryland's season, and it also carries with it tremendous benefits that will carry right through to the upcoming NCAA Championship Tournament, which some call the College Cup.
When Freshman George Campbell beat Ohio State Keeper Alex Ivanov in the 75th minute Saturday night at cold and windswept Ludwig Field in College Park, it capped a superior performance by Maryland on Senior Night - they outshot Ohio State 13-4 - and pushed them to 13 points on the season with one game to go. Right now, Penn State is in first place with 15 points, but the Nittany Lions have completed their conference season while the Terps still have to play Rutgers at New Brunswick on Wednesday night. The Scarlet Knights have struggled throughout their first Big Ten Season, and they will enter the game against Maryland in 8th place in the nine-team standings, with only 4 points, indicating one conference win (over last place Wisconsin, and one tie). Penn State finds itself in the situation they are in because yesterday the Nittany Lions lost to Northwestern, 2-1, in double overtime at Lakeside Field in Evanston. Sophmore Mike Rogers scored the game winner in the second overtime with less than two minutes left to play. Had Rogers not scored and the match ended tied, the Lions would have clinched at least a tie for the Regular Season Title. But the Wildcats, who have won the last two Big Ten Regular Season Titles, would not be denied, and they can claim a share of a third straight Conference Regular Season Crown if they can beat last place Wisconsin Wednesday at Evanston, and Maryland either loses or ties with Rutgers. If the final night plays out like that, Northwestern will end up tied with Penn State, but Northwestern would get the number one seed by virtue of their victory over Penn State Sunday. Michigan State was another team that entered the weekend with a chance to win the Regular Season Crown still alive. But the Spartans lost at Michigan, 3-2. Indiana, still in the hunt entering the weekend, saw their chances go out the window when they could only tie last place Wisconsin in Madison over the weekend. The point gained by Wisconsin was its first in the Big Ten Standings this season.
Campbell's goal came in the immediate wake of a corner kick by Tsubassa Endoh. Dan Metzger headed the kick to Alex Crognale, who fed Campbell for the winning shot. It was the freshman's second goal of the season and it gave the Terps nine multiple-goal scorers. Going into the postseason last year, every team knew Maryland's offense was centered on All-American Patrick Mullins. It didn't matter, the Terps won the ACC title and barged into the NCAA final against Notre Dame. Then the infamous shafting in the final took place, with the game official missing two intentional hand balls in the space of five seconds, and his inexcusable screw up unquestionably cost the Terps the game. During that infamous time, a Notre Dame defender used his forearm to reach out and block a sure-goal by the Terp's Alex Shinsky. So incensed was Mullins by that no-call, that he reached up and used his hands to knock the rebound down to his foot, and he shot that ball into the Irish net. The official said Maryland scored without assessing any penalties. Except that, had he done the right thing, the Irish defender would have been red carded and Notre Dame would have played the rest of the first half and the entire second half with ten players. It is doubtful if either of their subsequent goals would have occurred in that scenario. To make matters worse, a crossing pass to Mullins during Maryland's desperate attempt at an equalizer late in the second half was played out by another obvious and perhaps intentional Notre Dame handball. It was also missed by the official. I named the man in my game story last season and we'll leave it at that. This, as they say, is a whole new season.
As most fans know, the Terps were 3-5-2 in early October after losing on a Sunday afternoon at Northwestern. They fell out of the national rankings after opening the season ranked No. 2 behind Notre Dame. Since that time, a brand new and supremely confidant Maryland team has shown up at every match. Because of that, Maryland has run off seven consecutive victories, and now stand at 10-5-2 overall and 4-2-1 in the Big Ten. The streak of seven straight wins has allowed the Terps to begin the long trudge back up the National Polls, despite obvious prejudice against them by jealous coaches in the NSCAA Poll. In the Top Drawer Poll, which this week has Stanford No. 1 and Indiana No. 2, Maryland is at No. 12. The Terps have moved from unranked to 21 to 14 and now to 12 during their run. The NSCAA poll is not out yet, but the coaches, all of whom have spent the last ten sessons looking up at Maryland's Wizard of a Coach, Sascho Cirovski, have allowed their sour grapes to make the coach's poll look ridiculous. Maryland was still unranked last week in that poll, even though they had beaten both Penn State and Indiana in the two weeks before that poll was taken, when both schools were in the Top 5. Despite losing to Maryland last week, Indiana was ranked No. 1. If Maryland - who many consider the defending national champs - remain unranked this week, on the eve of taking the conference crown, we'll know the fix is in at that overwrought poll. Unlike the coach's football poll, where coach's ostensibly have the chance each week to see many of the top teams play, the college soccer game is still played in a relative media blackout, and for Maryland, a Top 5 team in virtually every poll for the past ten years, and back at it again this season after a slow start, to be unranked in such a scenario is truly laughable. This season the NCAA is using the college RPI as their national poll after apparent complaints about the NSCAA poll last season. But then, suddenly, the NSCAA poll pops up on the NCAA web page today - last week's poll. In the RPI, in a week where Maryland went 2-0 and beat a team ahead of them in the standings on Saturday night, they dropped from 21 to 23. Makes sense to me.
Maryland has been so good for so long that they are being the victim of some real sour grapes this year. The winning streak - especially if it is extended at least one more game - at least guarantees that the Terps will be in the NCAA Tournament this season. At the NCAA Web Site, they trumpet the fact that three new teams were in last week's Top 25 Coach's Poll, especially the Naval Academy. Perhaps it is just a coincidence that on the same week that Navy cracked the coach's poll they were No. 42 in the RPI. The NCAA put Navy in the Tournament last season, and believe me, the Middies deserved it even though they bowed out in the first round, and it is apparent they want to do it again. Good for Navy. It will be interesting to see where they rank Maryland if the Terps beat Rutgers, thereby winning the Big Ten Regular Season, and then, with home field advantage throughout, win the Big Ten Tournament. You think the Sour Grapes that vote in the poll will rank Maryland in that case? Not sure. I mean, it would mean the Terps would have won 14 straight, but with this group this season, who can be sure?
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