The Maryland men’s soccer team hadn’t allowed Penn State a shot on goal Sunday when the Nittany Lions earned a corner kick in the 85th minute.
Penn State forward Christian Sload headed the ball toward the upper-right corner from about eight yards out, but Maryland midfielder Eryk Williamson jumped to head the ball away and preserve the Terps’ 1-0 lead.
A few minutes later, Williamson scored to secure No. 3 Maryland’s 2-0 win and move the Terps to 6-0-1. Earlier in the contest, the junior notched an assist on forward Sebastian Elney’s 50th-minute goal.
“Eryk has been a really bright spot for us virtually every game and all season long,” Cirovski said, “and he makes three plays in this game that win the game for us.”
Despite hardly allowing Penn State any possession in the first half, Maryland (6-0-1, 2-0-1 Big Ten) struggled to create clean looks. The Terps found the target just twice before halftime.
While the Nittany Lions (1-3-2, 0-2-0) managed just one shot in the first half, they generated the best chance of the period in the 37th minute. However, Terps midfielder Jake Rozhansky, who Cirovski said was “exceptional” Sunday, cleared a ball off the goal-line, albeit a less dramatic save than Williamson’s in the late stages.
Rozhansky and Williamson created Maryland’s first goal shortly after halftime, much like they did in the Terps’ 3-0 win over Rutgers on Tuesday. Against the Scarlet Knights, Rozhansky found Williamson making a run down the right wing, and Williamson crossed to forward Gordon Wild for a 52nd-minute score.
Sunday, Rozhansky passed to Williamson on the left wing, Williamson sent the ball into the box and forward Sebastian Elney put enough on his shot to trickle it into the back of the net.
“[Rozhansky’s] an exceptional passer and [Williamson] has great instincts to go with his technical and athletic ability,” Cirovski said. “Then [Elney] made a really good run, which he didn’t in the first half.”
The goal gave the Terps a 1-0 lead over a Nittany Lions team that hadn’t attempted a shot in nearly 30 minutes. Penn State midfielder Ethan Beckford was issued a red card in the 73rd minute for a late tackle on Rozhansky, making the Nittany Lions uphill climb even steeper.
With five minutes left in regulation, Penn State earned its third corner kick of the game. Sload’s shot was strong but right at Williamson, whose save helped secure the Terps’ fourth consecutive clean sheet.
“I knew that I couldn’t get to the ball first,” Williamson said. “[So] it’s time to get in position where you can save the ball and make sure that we have a clean sheet. We’ve done an amazing job back there. I had to keep it going.”
Rozhansky slipped another pass behind the defense to Williamson in the 89th minute, as the Nittany Lions pushed numbers forward to try to steal an equalizer.
Williamson had glanced at the clock a bit earlier, he said, and knew it was time for a “last ditch effort” and ran “as hard as [he] can” past the Penn State defense, who’d been under pressure nearly all of the previous 89 minutes and had played down a man for the last 16.
Williamson easily finished the 1-on-1 chance against goalkeeper Evan Finney, sealing the Terps’ sixth win of the season.
“When Eryk wants to make a play,” Cirovski said, “he’s unstoppable.”
