By Danny Chung-A-Fung

On a chilly Friday Halloween night, No. 2 Maryland men’s soccer welcomed No. 14 Washington Huskies to College Park, a place that has been frightening for opponents this season. 

Both teams have been elite in conference play this year. The Terps came in undefeated in Big Ten play, and the Huskies had only lost one game. This set up a heavyweight matchup with the top two teams in the Big Ten standings.

In the battle for first place and home-field advantage in the Big Ten tournament, Maryland (11-0-3, 8-1-0 B1G) narrowly squeaked by Washington (10-4-2, 7-2-0 B1G) 1-0 on an 82nd minute goal by Albi Ndrenika to remain undefeated. 

“[Washington] defended with passion, so it was extra hard to break through them tonight,” Ndrenika said postgame. “But we got a team full of warriors, and we can stick around for 90 minutes.”

Maryland shook off a scare in last week’s matchup against Indiana, where they escaped with a 3-2 win to stay atop the Big Ten. The Terps lead the conference in numerous statistical categories, including assists per game and points per game, and have the best scoring offense in the conference.

The first 15 minutes were eerily quiet, with only one shot each between the two teams.

With just under ten minutes to go in the period, forward Stephane Njike had a golden opportunity to break the scoreless drought, but it was just off the right post. The first half remained scoreless,

The second half was full of missed opportunities for the Terps, with the Terps outshooting the Huskies 14-8. Goalkeeper Laurin Mack had a great diving save in the 59th minute to keep the shutout intact.

And a few minutes later, senior forward Sadam Maseraka had a breakaway lane to the goal off a perfect pass from Njike between two Husky defenders. But goalie Jadon Bowton got just enough on the ball to prevent it from going toward the net.  

The Huskies’ best chance to score came from sophomore midfielder Alex Hall, but Mack was able to deflect it away. 

In the 70th minute, deja vu happened all over again- Njike had an open shot at the top of the goalie box, but he missed it just left as he fell to his knees in disappointment.

In the 82nd minute, Maseraka was grabbed by Washington defender Egor Akulov, resulting in a yellow card — and the Terps took advantage. Ndrenika found the back of the net on the next possession, rebounding the  deflected header, sending the Ludwig crowd into a monster mash.  

Cirovski praised his team postgame for their effort, though he admitted they probably should’ve gotten more than one goal.

“I thought our team put in a really connected team performance, paying attention to the details that we asked them to,” Cirovski said postgame.

Cirovski also said it was great to get a win as the team celebrated the graduating senior class.  

“I think there was a lot of push by the whole team to make sure they walked out of here with a smile on their face,” he said. “When you have that much experience on the field and they know this is their final year of eligibility, it means it means a lot more.”

Ndrenika says that the road will only get tougher from here, but he’s confident in his teammates. 

“It just gets harder every game,” he said. “Just that constant pursuit of being better than what you were yesterday, that’s the message.”

But for now, Ndrenika will enjoy this moment, which is firmly in his top three memories at College Park- at least for now.

“I mean, maybe it’ll jump to four when the Big Ten [tournament] starts,” he joked.