By Christopher Rogers-Spatuzzi
Fresh off a 4-3 road win at Penn State, the Terrapins’ offense faltered, as they tied with visiting Indiana, 0-0, Friday night.
Maryland goalkeeper Cody Niedermeier played well, saving four goals over the course of the contest, and coming out of the goal to defend against many more. But despite his strong performance, the Maryland offense couldn’t take advantage of 15 corner kicks, and the end result was their fourth tie of the season.
The best opportunity for the Terrapins to score came late in the second half. With roughly 7 minutes left in the half, midfielder Tsubasa Endoh maneuvered past the Indiana defense and passed to forward Sebastian Elney, who had an open look at the goal. But his shot hit off his foot at an odd angle, and the ball sailed too far to the right of the net.
But the rest of the team didn’t dwell on that miss as a key point in the game.
“I know Sebastian will put that away nine times out of ten,” midfielder Mael Corboz said after the game. “Obviously we were thinking this could be it, but it happens, you miss chances, and he moved on pretty well.”
Indiana defender Tanner Thompson had a very similar open look earlier in the half, but also missed, this one to the far left of the goal.
The Terps closed out the second half with several more opportunities to get on the board and win the game, but couldn’t convert. They lined up for a corner with 12 seconds left, but no one could find the back of the net in the waning seconds of regulation.
Throughout much of the first overtime, Indiana maintained possession, but a solid Terps defensive line kept them from scoring.
Late in the second half, the Terps again had a golden opportunity, as defender Chris Odoi-Atsem’s shot on the goal rolled to the line before it was stopped by Indiana goalkeeper Colin Webb. It appeared to be just inches from rolling over the line and into the goal to end the game.
Just like the end of the second half, Maryland had several corners in the waning seconds, but couldn’t find the back of the net on any of them. When time expired, it was still scoreless, and each team went home with one more in the tie column. It may have been a disappointing for the Terps, the top Big Ten team, to tie with Indiana, the cellar-dweller of the Big Ten, but Maryland head coach Sacho Cirovski remained upbeat.
“I like the way we play, I like the way we competed,” he said after the game. “I can’t fault our team in any way, we just couldn’t find that one goal that would have made a difference in this game.”
The Terps return to action Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Delaware at Ludwig Field, looking to get back into the win column in a non-conference game.
