By Wesley Schnell
COLLEGE PARK, MD — No. 10 Maryland men’s soccer hosted one-loss No. 1 Ohio State in Sunday’s regular season finale. The Terps’ recent struggles continued, as they fell to the Buckeyes, 2-1, for their third straight loss.
“Today was one of those days where we really felt like we went toe to toe with them,” forward Max Rogers said. “Credit to them when they had their chances they were ruthless.”
Maryland’s defeat notably came without Sasho Cirovski on the sidelines, as the head coach served a single-game suspension.
The Terps started quickly, controlling the ball on the offensive end and winning their first corner kick in the 3rd minute after a successful counter attack. They weren’t able to convert on the opportunity, and had several other early chances go awry due to poor passing.
Ohio State soon took advantage.
The Buckeyes got on the board first thanks to a free kick from just outside the box, in the 15th minute. Midfielder Micheal Adedokum sent the set piece toward the far post of Maryland goalkeeper Laurin Mack. Senior Parker Grinstead got a touch to guide the ball to the opposite post, where defender Thomas Gilej tapped in for the opening score.
Sadam Maserka led a strong counterattack with numbers soon after Ohio State took the lead. The Buckeyes put a stop to that chance by intercepting another bad pass as soon as Maserka reached the box.
Buckeye Midfielder David Wroma broke through the Maryland defense on an Ohio State attack in the 22nd minute. Wroma had a one-on-one look with Mack, and the Maryland shot stopper came up with a clever save to keep the Buckeye lead at one goal.
Masarka drove forward with a one-on-one of his own in the 26th minute. Despite the clear chance, Masereka never got a shot off, as he was pushed from behind in the box. The Terps shouted for a penalty, but a video review confirmed the no-foul call that was made on the field.
The Buckeyes capitalized again. They extended their lead to 2-0 in the 34th minute.
Adedokun created the goal by tip-toeing along the endline to keep the ball in bounds. He then played an inch-perfect pass to midfielder Ashton Bilow. The junior easily tapped in the score, increasing Ohio State’s advantage to two.
Minutes later, Adedoku had another great look as he got around the Maryland defense and ripped a shot towards the bottom left corner. Mack made a two-handed save to deny Adedoku’s attempt.
Ohio State continued their strong defensive play to close out the half, spoiling every chance the Terps had to score.
Maryland started the second half the same way they started the first half — an early corner kick. Rogers took the set piece but the miscommunication spoiled the chance for Maryland.
In the 51st minute, a Buckeye foul led to a free kick that was taken outside the box by Rogers. The forward sent a shot on goal.
Ohio State goalkeeper Patrick McLaughlin saved the initial effort, but Luca Costabile was able to control the rebound and find an opening in the bottom left corner. He finished from close range to cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 2-1.
Rogers had another free kick chance in the 72nd minute. His effort ended up in the back of the net, but play was called dead before the ball crossed the goal line, due to a foul against Maryland.
The strong Buckeyes defense made a final stand in the 78th minute, blocking a shot from Colin Grifith. It was Maryland’s final look of the match.
“I think we just need to remember who we are,” Rogers said. “We’re a very, very good soccer team. So for us, I think it’s just remembering who we are and remembering how dangerous, and you know effective we can be and, you know, returning to sort of our identity.”
Ohio State clinched the Big Ten championship with its victory at Ludwig Field. The Terps, on the other hand, dropped to third in the conference, which is where they’ll be seeded for the Big Ten tournament – which starts on Thursday. Maryland is still awaiting its opponent in the opening round.
“We’re all in this together,” assistant coach Brian Rowland said. “It’s a group that we’re all familiar with. So nothing really changed much in terms of how we wanted to approach the game.”
