By Christopher Cox
Despite giving one of their best 90-minute performances of the season, the Maryland Terrapins (6-11-1, 1-8-1) lost 1-0 to the Wisconsin Badgers (11-4-3, 8-1-1) Saturday night at Ludwig Field in College Park.
Even though Maryland had just four shots in the first half, sophomore forward Madison Turner had the best chance to score for the Terps in the 40th minute. Her shot from the left corner of the penalty box, intended to sneak under the crossbar, required a leaping deflection over the net from Wisconsin goalkeeper Caitlyn Clem.
Micaela Powers scored her first goal of the season in the 80th minute off a corner kick assisted by Kinley McNicoll and McKenna Meuer. With their win over the Terps, Wisconsin claimed at least a share of the Big Ten Championship.
Eight seniors, midfielder Riley Barger, defender Kayla Shea, midfielder Maisie McCune, midfielder Sarah Molina, defender Amanda Gerlitz, midfielder Erika Joab, defender Shannon Collins, and goalkeeper Rachelle Beanlands, were honored before the game for their careers at Maryland.
After the game, head coach Jonathan Morgan spoke highly of Collins, who hasn’t missed a game in her four years of playing in College Park. “At the end of the day, I wouldn’t trade her for anything. She’s just a tough you-know-what.”
Preparing for Saturday night’s game, Collins said, “[Emotionally] it was a lot. I didn’t want this to be the last night but all good things come to an end.”
On his entire group of seniors, Morgan said, “They’re all good people. That might sound cliché but they’re just good kids. They do things the right way. If I said ‘Let’s get together at 10:30 tonight to go train,’ they’d go train.”
Maryland was only able to get off 11 shots against Wisconsin with just two on goal.
The Terps play their final regular season game Wednesday at 8 p.m. against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln.
