WASHINGTON D.C. – In his second straight game, Colin Griffith answered Coach Cirovski’s call and helped get Maryland on the board first again. In the seventh minute, the standout freshman was tackled down inside the box after beating his defender to the end line to win a penalty in his second straight game.

Malcolm Johnston stepped up to the penalty spot, hoping to give Maryland an early lead, and did just that.

Johnston put the ball into the bottom left corner, sending Georgetown goalkeeper Ethan Koehler the wrong way to put the Terps up 1-0.

No. 14 Maryland men’s soccer continued its domination of the DMV, as they pushed past No. 21 Georgetown, 2-1.

In another ranked matchup for Maryland, the Terps made the short trip to Shaw Field in Washington D.C. to play a local rival, Georgetown. 

After the early goal from Johnston, the game became tight, with both sides creating clean chances to get themselves on the score sheet. 

Even with the game filled with scoring opportunities, the Terps were sound defensively, and eventually, Maryland found the back of the net once again off of a great individual play from Nick Richardson in the 30th minute. The Georgetown keeper made an errant pass to the feet of Richardson, who finished the first goal of his career, putting Maryland up 2-0 to close out the first half.

“I thought in the first half, we played our best half of the year,” said Coach Sasho Cirovski.

“He’s a great leader, great personality, so just super happy that he finally gets his first goal,” said goalkeeper Niklas Neumann. 

As the second half began, Georgetown became aggressive and put consistent pressure on the ball. The Hoyas had opportunities but didn’t prevail against Maryland goalkeeper Niklas Neumann, who stood on his head to keep the sheet clean. 

That sheet remained clean until Georgetown finally struck late.

In the 78th minute, Jack Panyotou finally got Georgetown on the board with 12 minutes to play. Jacob Murrell found Panyotou, who struck it past Neumann to bring the Hoyas within one. 

Although the Hoyas did pull within a goal, it was too little, too late in the local rivalry, as Maryland escaped with a grueling 2-1 win over a Georgetown team that showed zero quit. 

With the result, Maryland gets its second-ranked win of the year and its second straight win in D.C. against two strong opponents.

“Over the last few years we haven’t been able to do that, we haven’t been able to win against Georgetown… so to beat those two teams means a lot to us,” said Neumann. 

Maryland travels to Michigan next Friday to take on the Wolverines.

“I’m very very proud of our team, extremely grateful to have the fan support we had today, both from the community and especially our beloved ‘Crew’,” said Cirovski. “We’ll start getting ready for Michigan on Monday.”