Midfielder Becky Kaplan will try to lead the Terps’ offense against Alabama tonight.
Jonathan Morgan doesn’t know exactly what his Terrapins women’s soccer team is quite yet.
Is it the team that scored just three goals in a 1-1-1 start? Or is it the team that erupted for eight goals in two victories last weekend?
The first-year coach will find out tonight, when the Terps travel to face undefeated Alabama in what could be their toughest early-season test.
“This is the time for us to take the next step,” Morgan said. “This is a pretty important game. … Can we create dangerous opportunities against a team with this type of pedigree?”
They’ll have to. The Crimson Tide has scored 19 goals in its five wins this season, boasting one of the most high-powered attacks the Terps have met so far this year.
The Terps are on the right track to get to that level, though. After failing to score in their second and third games of the season, Morgan’s team scored three goals in a win over George Mason on Friday, and it scored more goals in a 5-0 win over Towson on Sunday than it had in the first three matches of the season combined.
“Scoring goals is becoming contagious,” Morgan said. “If you’re struggling to score, and once you’re able to break that, you breathe a little easier. We’ve become hungrier and more confident.”
While the Patriots and Tigers likely didn’t present the same challenges Alabama will tonight, there’s reason for optimism. Although the Crimson Tide is undefeated, it’s beaten the likes of Kennesaw State, Mercer and Samford.
But even if the Terps are the top team Alabama has faced this season, the road test won’t be easy.
“It could be the hardest game for us,” midfielder Domenica Hodak said, “but if we play well we should get on a roll and go into ACC play on top and look up for the rest of the season.”
It’s an interesting situation for the Terps, who have long-relied on big-name players to carry them. But with 14 freshmen seeing significant minutes and former standouts like defender Skyy Anderson and goalkeeper Yewande Balogun no longer in College Park, the Terps are still trying to plug defensive holes and fine-tune their offense.
“We graduated a lot of people, so it’s just been hard to have freshmen replacing big roles,” Hodak said. “I think that’s the main reason we haven’t been ourselves so far.”
It took them five games, but the Terps are starting to figure it out. And with four goals from midfielder Becky Kaplan, two each from midfielders Ashley Spivey and Olivia Wagner and one from three other players, the offensive weight has been distributed more evenly this season than it has in years past.
“This is a fresh team and we’re not relying on one person,” Kaplan said. “Because of that, I think we have the ability to be a bit of a surprise.”
The Terps will try to continue that success tonight in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and the offense’s ability to outscore the dangerous Crimson Tide will be key to their chances.
And although Kaplan thinks the Terps have the potential to shock opponents, Hodak wants other teams to know they’re coming.
“It’s always hard to go play a team at their place,” Hodak said. “But we’re Maryland, and they should be afraid to play us.”
egan@umdbk.com
