Maryland women’s soccer plays the first of its two game road trip in the state of Michigan. First, the Terps (4-7-5, 0-5-3 Big Ten) take on Michigan State (9-3-3, 4-3-1 Big Ten). 

This season overall has been rough for the Terps, who have not won a game since September 2, but are coming off arguably their best performance of the season in their 0-0 tie against Indiana. 

That game saw the Terps rebound from giving up a combined ten goals in their previous two games to outplay the Hoosiers for multiple stretches on their way to a clean sheet on defense.

 “You know we’ve been changing lineups throughout the season,”  goalkeeper Maddie Smith said “but we really found one that works for us [against Indiana] so I’m glad that we found that.”

The Terps defense will get a chance to further its success as it takes on the Spartan attack led by fifth year forward Ava Cook who has 23 shots on target this season. 

While the Terps are looking to build on momentum from their last game, the Spartans will be looking to regain some. Michigan State lost its last two games dropping its Big Ten record this season to 4-3-1. 

However, those three losses all came by only a single point and the Spartans will field another challenging defense for the Terps offense that has struggled to score all season. 

Despite being underdogs in their final two games, the Terps will be hoping to end this rough season strong this weekend. 

“I mean relief, a reward for sticking with it,” head coach Ray Leone said of the prospect of winning, “they know they are improving but they dont wanna just improve, they want to win and nobody’s hiding from that.”