In the 70th minute of a grudge match between Big Ten rivals, Luca Costabile sent a ball into the box for Max Riley, who got taken down, awarding Maryland a penalty attempt with the score even at two.
Malcolm Johnston, who has been automatic from the penalty spot this season, stepped up to try and give his Terps the lead with only twenty minutes to play. Malcolm Johnston walked up to the penalty spot, took a breath, and made no mistake putting it into the top right corner, sending Shakes the wrong way to put the Terps up, 3-2.
In a back-and-forth battle, No. 9 Maryland couldn’t break through, as Penn State escaped Ludwig with a 3-3 tie.
Coming off three straight wins, the Terps looked to continue their strong play against the defending Big Ten Champions, Penn State.
Looking for their first win against the Nittany Lions since the 2018 National Championship, Maryland came out firing with high end chances and swift attacking play.
In the 17th minute, Maryland drew first blood after Nick Richardson drove the right end line and slotted it into the bottom left corner past Penn State goalkeeper Kris Shakes.
After a fast start for the Terps, Penn State responded with pressure, and just three minutes after Richardson opened up the scoring, the Nittany Lions responded with one of their own.
Femi Awodesu saw a corner come in from Graduate Student Seth Kuhn, and headed it past Jamie Lowell for the equalizer.
Penn State followed its goal with strong play, finding the back of the net again off of a strike in transition from Peter Mangione in the 28th minute.
“He’s[Mangione] a kid that is a really good player, and seems to play his best soccer against Maryland.” said Head Coach Sasho Cirovski. “I hope we have another opportunity to play them again this year.”
Maryland settled back in for the remaining minutes of the first half but couldn’t get the contest back to even before heading to the dressing room at the halfway point.
“To be honest, we got it in us, and when we go into the locker room, and you’re down one goal, we look each other in the eyes, and it’s just like we fire each other up because we know that we got it in us.” said defender Alex Nitzl.
After outshooting the Nittany Lions 9-4 in the first half, Maryland continued to find open space in Penn State’s backfield and got it back to even just six minutes into the half.
Soon after, freshman Luca Costabile’s shot was turned away by Shakes, but the rebound was there for Griffin Dillon, who made no mistake, putting the ball into the upper netting to square the game up at two.
Following the Max Riley take-down within the box in the 70th minute, Johnson finished the penalty to put the Terps up.
Maryland looked to put the game away, but a yellow card from Lowell inside the box gave Penn State a chance to even things in the 75th minute.
Penn State Head Coach Jeff Cook gave the ball to Junior defender Tyger Evans, who capitalized, slotting it into the bottom left corner to tie it up, 3-3.
The last ten minutes saw both sides miss prime scoring opportunities, with the Big Ten foes deadlocked at three to finish the game after a grueling back and forth battle.
The Terps will look to get back into the win column against No. 13 Ohio State on Sunday, with kickoff set for 1:00 p.m.
“We’ll bounce back. We got a really good Ohio State team, probably the best team they’ve had in the last 10, 12 years.” said Cirovski. “I think Sunday will be a crucial match for us in the Big Ten regular season.”
