Maryland (0-7-2 B1G) travels to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota (4-3-2 B1G) on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Maryland has struggled all season but especially as of late, losing its last three games and failing to score in its last four games.
The Terps are coming off a 2-0 loss at Wisconsin, and were unable to mount a comeback despite creating some good scoring chances after conceding two early goals in the 7th and 11th minute.
This came after the Terps started a young lineup, including six freshmen, due to injuries and fatigue in the squad. Maryland head coach Ray Leone talked about the changes.
“The fatigue level is high, a lot of overtimes, a lot of mileage,” Leone said. “We really used this as an opportunity to give a lot of young players their first Big Ten start, first Big Ten experience against last year’s champions, and it was worth it.”
Despite the loss, Leone was happy with the performance and the chances the Terps created.
“Today we had some good chances, probably the best chances we’ve had in a while,” Leone said. “Part of it is fatigue, so we’ve got to get fresher and continue to work on the finishing.”
Minnesota bounced back from two straight losses against ranked teams in Penn State and Rutgers with a 1-0 win over Purdue on Thursday. Minnesota’s joint top-scorer, freshman midfielder Sophia Boman, grabbed a late goal in the 83rd minute to give the Gophers the win.
Leone hopes that Maryland can continue to improve and get a positive result at Minnesota.
“We played much better than we did against Iowa [against Wisconsin] and so we felt like we got our game back,” Leone said. “We’re keeping the ball decently, defending decently, we just got to get our legs back so that we can really give it everything we got.”
Maryland is 2-4 all-time against Minnesota, but won the most recent matchup between the two last season 2-0, with goals from redshirt junior forward Alyssa Poarch and senior forward Mikayla Dayes giving the Terps the win.
Maryland will end its regular season at Penn State on Saturday before playing in the Big Ten Wildcard Weekend, which is scheduled to begin on April 8.
