Maryland men’s soccer found itself in unfamiliar territory as it headed into the halftime break against Villanova. The Terps have struggled to score this season, but one would not know that Tuesday. After 45 minutes, the teams were tied at three in an incredibly exciting half.
For the Terps to secure their second straight win, they needed to separate themselves in the scoring frenzy.
And in the 47th minute, Stefan Copetti did just that. He poked the ball to a streaking Luke van Huekelum and darted to the back post. Beating his defender, Copetti received a beautiful cross-goal service for an easy tap-in score.
Copetti’s second goal of the match symbolized the Terps’ offensive surge, helping them to their most impressive attacking performance of the season in a 6-4 victory. Maryland (3-6-2) managed a season-high 29 shots on the night.
“I just think what you saw was guys starting to be on the same page,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “We were able to finally connect on some kind of attack.”
Sudden, opportunistic chances filled the game’s opening minutes. Although neither side truly seized the momentum, lofted through balls gave both teams’ forwards stellar looks.
In the seventh minute, Kimani Stewart-Baynes blocked a Villanova (1-5-4) clear attempt. After sputtering in the air, the ball found the feet of van Heukelum, who tapped it right back to Stewart-Baynes for the opening score.
“We’re buzzing man. You know, it’s been a rough season for us so far, but we just bounced back,” Stewart-Baynes said. “I’m happy with the performance tonight for sure.”
In the aftermath of Maryland’s goal, the Terps laid siege to Villanova’s half. There were instances when Maryland’s midfielders were outnumbered, but deft passes to supporting defenders opened up ample space. It allowed for more effective counter-attacks and gave the forwards more time with the ball in the attacking third.
As soon as the Terps captured the energy, Villanova capitalized on a rebound, tying the score in the 15th minute. To make matters worse for Maryland, starting goalkeeper Jamie Lowell was injured, which forced sophom*ore Mikah Seger into his place.
“We’ve got to shore things up a little bit and tighten things up on the defensive side of the ball,” Cirovski said.
The influx of early scoring could best be attributed to the brand of soccer both sides played. Instead of neat ball movement, the two programs opted to send the ball deep into opposing territory and force them to clear it out.
None of the six first-half goals were due to egregious mistakes by either defense. Good offense, coupled with spacing, timely bounces and world-class shots, produced the high-scoring affair.
Copetti’s goal to start the second half helped keep Maryland’s offense hot. For the first 15 minutes of the half, the Terps controlled the pace of play, getting excitingly creative in the box. Overlapping players, perfectly-placed crosses and balls into open space gifted the forwards point-blank opportunities.
As the shots mounted, the Terps eventually found another way to score: a Luke van Heukelum header on a cross-goal service.
“I think we followed up on a lot of second chances,” van Heukelum said. “We were able to counter quickly when they weren’t compacting the defense and we were able to score off those chances.”
As Maryland continued to put on an offensive clinic, it begged the question: where has this caliber of performance been all season long? Seldom have the Terps played with such vigor and synchronization, and it wasn’t all on offense. Their second-half defensive performance was sound, allowing only five total shots.
Even with Villanova’s goal in the 73rd minute to cut the lead to 5-4, Maryland refused to panic. In fact, the Terps weren’t done scoring. Stewart-Baynes’ goal in the final two minutes marked their most scores in a contest since a 6-1 rout of Virginia last season.
“Crazy Tuesday night,” Cirovski said. “What can you say? Our attack looks fantastic. We pressed the ball, we created some great chances, scored a lot of goals.”
Three things to know
1. The Terps finally found their scoring stride. Before Tuesday, Maryland hadn’t scored more than two goals in a match, but found a litany of ways to get the job done against Villanova. Center back Bjarne Thiesen even headed home a corner kick, marking the first time Maryland has scored on a corner this year.
“I’d rather win the game 3-2 than 1-0,” Cirovski said. “We like to attack and we like to open the game. Tonight, it was a little too wide open but nonetheless, we got the result.”
2. A flurry of first-half finishes. Behind the six combined first-half scores was an impressive array of stats, which included 14 shots for the Terps, eight of which were on target. Their prior average was just 10.8 shots per game. Villanova also spent just 4% of its time with the ball in first half in the attacking third, yet still came away with three goals.
3. Stacking wins. Tuesday marked the first streak of wins for the Terps this season, and it’s coming at the right time. As Maryland returns to Big Ten play, retaining this momentum will be imperative if it wants to make good on its outside chances at making the Big Ten Tournament.
