By: Justin Fitzgerald
After playing to a draw in their first game of the season, Maryland won their home opener against Hartford in dominant fashion, defeating the Hawks 5-0. The Terps earned their first victory of the season to improve to 1-0-1, while Hartford dropped to 0-2.
“I thought it was a complete effort. Getting five goals against a good team and getting a shutout, I couldn’t ask for more,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said following the game.
It didn’t take long for Maryland to get on the board, as Gordon Wild scored from the left side of the box in the eighth minute to give the Terps a 1-0 lead. It was Wild’s first goal at Maryland after scoring 16 last year for USC Upstate.
After giving up a goal in the first minute against UCLA, Cirovski was happy to see his team score first tonight.
“We don’t want to be a team that responds, we want to be a team that starts from the beginning,” Cirovski said.
The Terps added to their lead four minutes later off a beautiful designed play. It started when Chris Odoi-Atsem put a cross into the box that was headed by Eryk Williamson, who then headed it to Sebastian Elney, who put it in the back of the net. It was Elney’s first goal of 2016 after he scored a team high seven as a freshman last year.
Maryland continued to dominate the tempo in the first half, almost scoring again in the 40th minute when Jorge Calix had a shot punched out by Hartford goalie David MacKinnon.
Maryland didn’t let up, scoring an additional three goals in the second half. Wild deflected in a cross from Williamson for his second goal of the game in the 54th minute, and George Campbell added a goal on a penalty kick in the 69th minute. Maryland added another in the 84th minute when Jorge Calix put in a cross from DJ Reeves at point blank range.
The Terps also dominated on defense, as they were able to snuff out every opportunity from Hartford and allowed only two shots the entire game. Niedermeier was rarely challenged, and did not have to make a single save the entire night. The only time the Hawks threatened was late in the first half, when Udi Cohen put a shot high in the 32nd minute and Andri Jonasson’s header off a corner kick went high on the same possession.
Maryland will be back in action Friday night to take on local rival No. 10 Georgetown at Ludwig Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
