Shannon Collins
If the Terrapins women’s soccer team’s first four matches were any indication, it will be putting a lot more points on the board this year.
Piecing together three shutouts and one big comeback win to kick-start the season, the No. 15 Terps scored 18 goals in the first four matches. By comparison, they had scored six times through their first four contests in the 2012 season.
Three times as many goals this year? Jonathan Morgan is already sold.
“Our attack is dangerous right now — we’ve got a lot of great individuals, and we continue to work a little bit better collectively each game,” the second-year coach said.
One of his offensive juggernauts, forward Hayley Brock, was just recognized for her strong start by being named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week while also sharing ACC Co-Player of the Week honors with Florida State’s Kristen Crowley. Brock leads the ACC in goals with six and has scored a goal in the team’s past six matches, dating back to the 2012 NCAA tournament.
Brock came through in the clutch versus Villanova on Aug. 26. With the team down 2-1 in the 83rd minute, the senior went off. She maneuvered past the Villanova goalkeeper after forward Ashley Spivey lofted a pass into the box, tying the game with a kick into an empty net.
Two minutes later, she stole the ball on the Terps’ side of the field and took care of the rest herself, driving down the field and through the entire Villanova defense and scoring to give her team the lead. And not long after that, she took control of a ball sent by Terps goalkeeper Rachelle Beanlands and sped by the Wildcats once again, adding an insurance goal to cap a hat trick.
While scoring back-to-back-to-back goals is impressive, doing so in less than five minutes while giving the Terps a 4-2 advantage late in the match is even more remarkable.
Brock also stood out with an assist on the go-ahead goal against George Mason on Friday and added a goal less than five minutes afterward.
“When we’re good, we’re moving and we’re moving it quickly, and teams have to chase and cover a lot of ground while their kids are putting on miles,” Morgan said. “You add that with our fitness, which I think is at a really good level right now, and we’re pretty difficult to deal with.”
Another player standing out, but not for putting the ball in the back of the net, is Shannon Collins. A second-year defender, Collins is notably the go-to player for corner kicks. But she also is emerging as a key option for finding scoring opportunities. She has posted five assists in four games, leading the conference, all while tending to her duties on the left side of the team’s back line.
“She’s a blue-collar kid — she’s tough,” Morgan said of Collins, who has played the full 90 minutes in each of the Terps’ past three matches. “She’ll make a mistake but it’s over and she’s back at it.”
Future opponents who wonder how to contain an offense that is, at least thus far, explosive, could look at how the Terps’ past two opponents, George Mason and Navy, played against them. Although both eventually lost, they did have success in slowing the pace of the match and substituting regularly.
George Mason put in 12 reserves throughout the game in addition to its starting 11, taking the steam out of the Terps, who had scored two quick goals to open up the match. Navy, meanwhile, relied on physicality and held the Terps in check until the final 20 minutes.
“They wanted to kill the game and the momentum of it, but the fitness was good,” Morgan said. “And if we keep getting better with possession, we can continue to stretch teams.”
