On an Indiana corner kick in the 32nd minute Friday night, three Maryland men’s soccer players trailed Indiana defender Andrew Gutman’s near-post run.

Defender Chase Gasper began the corner kick guarding Gutman in the middle of the box. When the set piece was played in Gutman’s direction, forward Sebastian Elney joined Gasper to put a second body on the Hoosiers’ leading goal scorer.

By the time the ball reached Gutman’s head, 6-foot-5 defender Donovan Pines had left his man to join the fray on the edge of the 6-yard box.

It hardly mattered. Gutman still bested the Terps in that moment, heading the ball past goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair to put Indiana ahead. It was the first of his two goals Friday, the latter coming with 18 seconds left in regulation to give the Hoosiers a 2-1 win.

“To me, he’s the best player in college soccer,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “He plays left back, but he’s very dangerous going forward. [Indiana] needed him, and he came through.”

[Read more: No. 4 Indiana scores 90th-minute winner for 2-1 win over Maryland men’s soccer]

Gutman, named to the watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy — given to college soccer’s best player — couldn’t be contained by the Terps on Friday.

The goal could’ve been Gutman’s second in the opening period, but his earlier effort was disallowed for a handball. Gutman slipped behind Elney after a corner kick was deflected to the top of the box, but the infraction resulted in a yellow card rather than an Indiana celebration.

Gutman wouldn’t be denied a second time, though, and broke through on the corner kick later in the half.

He won the race to the ball, heading it down in front of goal. It bounced once in front of St. Clair, whose vision was obscured by Indiana midfielder Cory Thomas. The netminder’s late diving attempt couldn’t keep the ball out, giving the Hoosiers an early advantage.

“His movement off the ball is unreal,” forward Paul Bin said. “I’ve never played a player in the Big Ten as good as him moving off the ball, creating space for other players.”

[Read more: Maryland men’s soccer will embrace its newfound underdog mentality against No. 4 Indiana]

Bin played on the same side of the pitch as Gutman and experienced how skillful the defender is. In addition to shutdown defense, the senior led the Hoosiers with four shots, and Bin couldn’t prevent Gutman’s 90th-minute goal.

Defender Rece Buckmaster played a hard, low cross into the box as two Hoosiers made runs in front of the net. Gutman eluded his marker and tapped home the game-winning cross.

“They whipped in a very difficult cross to defend,” Cirovski said. “But those are moments we need to manage to be successful.”

The game was moments away from overtime, but Gutman prevented the extra period. Maryland fell below .500 with only four games remaining in the regular season, and the team hasn’t progressed as much as it thought it would by this point in the 2018 campaign.

Aside from not being able to contain Gutman, Maryland defended Indiana well overall. The Terps defended a season-high 13 corner kicks, which were all thwarted with the exception of Gutman’s spectacular first-half finish.

Despite the high number of set pieces, the Terps still came close to winning after Bin scored in the 57th minute to level the scoreline. But after pressuring hard for the game-winner, Maryland was outdone by Gutman when it mattered most in the final minute.

“He’s just so energetic and it was a tough challenge for me,” Bin said. “He really is one of the best college players I’ve seen.”