By: Hannah Fields

The Maryland women’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the season when it traveled to Rutgers to open conference play.

Despite their offensive pressure and repeated attempts on goal, the Terps could not finish and lost 2-0 to No. 13 Rutgers. The score remained tied for the majority of the game, until an own goal by Maryland’s Hope Gouterman gave the Scarlet Knights the upper hand. The continued pressure by Rutgers’ forwards Colby Ciarrocca and Amirah Ali ultimately led to the second goal, that got past goalkeeper Rachel Egyed.

Both teams entered into this game with identical records, 6-1-0, and the threat of ruining an undefeated record thus far only elevated the intensity of the game. There were only 17 total fouls, yet the physicality of each opponent was hard to miss.

The level of play was evenly matched, with both teams possessing and putting pressure on the defensive lines, but multiple injuries for the Terps halted play. Jarena Harmon went down early with an apparent leg injury but returned later in the game. The same could not be said about senior forward Chelsea Jackson, who injured her knee while trying to recover on defense and did not return to the field.

The beginning of the second half resembled the first, until the tide turned in favor of the Scarlet Knights. Following a cross inside the box by Rutgers, Maryland defender and captain Gouterman headed the ball past Egyed into her own goal in attempt to stop the ball from traveling to another Scarlet Knight.

Rutgers’ Ciarrocca then earned her 5th goal of the season after scoring off of an assist off the heel of Ali. Maryland head coach Ray Leone, seemingly arguing that the ball had gone out of bounds prior to the goal, got served a yellow card for throwing his clipboard to the ground.

Maryland had multiple shot attempts on Rutgers goalkeeper Casey Murphy, but none found the back of the net.

With a 6-1-1 record, the Terps will look to bounce back when they travel to Illinois on Friday, Sept. 22.