Maryland bounced out of the Big Ten Tournament with a 2-1 loss to Wisconsin

WMUCSports
Maryland men's soccer

By Eddie Hobbs

The Maryland Terrapins were defeated by the Wisconsin Badgers 2-1 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Coming into the match Maryland was on a four-game losing streak and continued to look for answers throughout the match.

Early in the game, Wisconsin was hounding Maryland, and had two opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net. Goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair was able to make the first save and it deflected right to a Wisconsin attacker. St. Clair then dove to his left and kept the match scoreless.

Maryland was aggressive throughout the first half, something that Sasho Cirovski drilled into his players this week. The Terps kept possession in the first half and were able to get back to their early season form. The offense was boosted by the back line who played higher up the field and kept the ball in front of them.

Maryland’s offensive pressure finally paid off for the squad. In the 28th minute, Jake Rozhansky danced around a defender and ran up the near side of the field. Rozhansky dribbled into the box and delivered a great pass to Sebastian Elney. The 6-foot-1 forward corralled the ball and put a rocket right by Wisconsin goalkeeper Philipp Schilling to give Maryland the 1-0 lead.

The Terrapins had one of the most productive halves since they played Wisconsin on Oct. 13. But, early in the second half, Wisconsin was able to even the score in the 50th minute. Defender Noah Leibold gathered a rebound in front of the box and drilled a shot past St. Clair.

Wisconsin had the Terps on the ropes for most of the second half and limited Maryland to 14 shots and four shots on goal. Cirovski thought that his team had done enough in practice to put the past struggles behind the team, but it wasn’t enough.

“I am beyond disappointed with today’s result, we had an incredibly great week of training and covered ground and we had a very good performance in the first half,” Cirovski said. “To come out in the second half with a lack of urgency is completely unacceptable.”

In the 82nd minute, Maryland had a great opportunity with forward D.J. Reeves leading the pack. Reeves dribbled around defenders outside the box and tried to put the ball past Schilling, but Reeves couldn’t give Maryland the lead.

Three minutes later, Wisconsin put the nail in the coffin with a perfect assist by Chris Mueller to Mark Segbers who was able to finish past St. Clair, 2-1 Wisconsin.

“Anything that passes you, you don’t want to feel that,” St. Clair said. “Especially in a game like this…. And having three minutes to fight back, it hurts.”

Maryland will have to wait a until the selection committee decides its fate. Maryland dropped to No. 24 in the United Coaches Poll before the game against the Badgers. It remains to be seen where the team will fall to and what seed they could be in the NCAA Tournament that starts on Nov. 16.

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