On a soaking night at Ludwig Field, Patrick Mullins found daylight.

Taking an errant California pass near midfield, the forward dribbled into the Golden Bears’ side and advanced behind fellow forwards Schillo Tshuma and Christiano Francois into the box.

Then, he hesitated and flicked a shot off the outside of his left foot past California goalkeeper Kevin Peach.

In rainy conditions hardly conducive to offense, Mullins’ goal was just one of six. The No. 6 Terps rebounded from Friday night’s draw with No. 11 UCLA, routing California, 6-0, in front of 3,255 fans.

“I thought that was a tremendous 90 minutes,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “That’s a very good Cal team, and I expect them to be a playoff team this year. I thought tonight was just a great effort on our team.”

Five different Terps recorded goals as they mounted their highest goal total since Oct. 8, 2010 when they defeated Virginia Tech, 7-0. Reserve forward Jordan Cyrus led the Terps (2-0-1) with two goals and Mullins had two assists.

“I thought that was good for [Mullins] to score tonight,” Cirovski said. “He’s provided some really good assists. At times, he’s been pressing a little bit.”

It was a complete performance from a lineup that had some question marks at the start of the evening. The Terps were missing two key starters — defender Taylor Kemp and midfielder Helge Leikvang — to injury, forcing Widner Saint Cyr and Mikias Eticha to make their first starts of the year.

But the Terps’ defense held fast, allowing the Golden Bears (1-2-0) to take only four shots. Goalkeeper Keith Cardona made three saves as he posted his second shutout of the season.

“Mikey [Ambrose] did awesome and so did Saint,” Cardona said. “He really picked it up and came into his own.”

Cirovski and his players touted the depth of the Terps this preseason, and it was on full display against the Golden Bears. Twenty-two players saw action and nine players had at least one goal or assist.

“We know we’ve got depth all over the place,” Mullins said. “We just want to make sure we take it one day at a time as far as everybody doing the right things and making sure they come and work every day.”

Six players came off the bench to record points, including midfielder Tsubasa Endoh, who recorded his first career goal in the 70th minute. Francois notched his first career point, assisting on Tshuma’s goal in the 65th minute.

“Tonight, it was important that the players that were given the privilege of starting took it well, and they did,” Cirovski said. “Then, all the players that came in were really tuned in.”

The Terps have now scored 11 goals through their first three games, all against teams in top 25 polls. After drawing against UCLA on Friday, Cirovski said he saw a resiliency from his team that could be needed down the stretch.

“You never go into a game expecting to score six goals,” Cirovski said. “I went into the game wanting total commitment on both sides of the ball from everybody. Tonight, I got it.”

dgallen@umdbk.com