By Sebastian Obando
The game clock on the scoreboard froze at fifteen seconds as Dan Metzger placed the ball on the spot and sauntered a few paces backward. The senior midfielder had just recently earned a penalty, setting himself with an opportunity to notch his third goal of the season. He calmly ran up to the ball and successfully converted the spot-kick into the bottom left corner of the goal, giving his side a three goal cushion. The few remaining seconds then trickled down to zero, leaving the Terps winners over Hartwick in a 5-2 goal fest.
“Feels good to get the victory,” head coach Cirovski said. “I thought we had moments of the game where we were very good, and I thought we had some lapses tonight. Looking at the positives, though, we scored some great goals, we had some good movement”
Throughout the first 75 minutes, the Terps controlled the majority of play due to a strong midfield presence of Metzger, Mael Corboz, and Tsubasa Endoh. Together, the trio was able to manage the flow of the game, building attacks patiently. The persistent possession led to Corboz opening the scoring with a powerful left-footed strike in the 29th minute. The Terps then added a second tally moments before the interval, courtesy of a David Kabelik strike from the edge of the area.
Leading by two goals at the start of the second half, the Terps continued to create dangerous scoring opportunities by directing the speed of the game. This time, Jake Areman split the Hartwick center backs, perfectly connecting with Endoh behind the defense. The junior midfielder slotted the ball past goalkeeper Tom Buckner, increasing Maryland’s lead to three in the 66th minute.
“That was some good movement, Jake [Areman] took a beautiful pass where he threaded it in between two players,” Cirovski claimed. “We want our guys slashing. We talked about that at half-time, that we really weren’t making any runs in behind them. The whole thing was perfect. The timing, the spacing, the finish it was all first class”
However, the three-goal lead was subsequently cut down, as Hartwick netted two quick scores to narrow the margin to one with only seven minutes remaining. Searching desperately for the equalizer, the Eagle defense was left exposed, allowing the Terps to add two more goals and regain their cushion. Kabelik and Metzger scored the fourth and fifth, respectively, as Maryland secured a 5-2 win at full time.
“We file it and move on. It was good to get the win,” Areman said. “Our team chemistry is definitely getting a lot better”
The win improves Maryland’s record to 9-5-2. The Terps will now look to continue their six-game winning streak on Saturday against Ohio State.
