Coach Jonathan Morgan watches the Terps’ 1-0 loss to Rutgers at Ludwig Field on Sept. 18.
With less than two weeks remaining in the Terrapins women’s soccer team’s season a year ago, the team was fighting for one of the eight spots in the Big Ten tournament. But after tying Northwestern and Illinois in the same weekend at Ludwig Field, the Terps’ chances looked bleak.
Coach Jonathan Morgan’s squad went on to finish ninth in the conference, while the Fighting Illini and Wildcats filled in the last two spots of the tournament.
A little less than a year later, the Terps will embark on their first Big Ten road trip of the season to face Northwestern (7-1-2, 1-0-1 Big Ten) and Illinois (6-2-1, 0-1-1) on Thursday and Sunday, respectively. Though Morgan said he’s not reminiscing about last season’s result, midfielder Riley Barger has a hard time forgetting the setback.
“I obviously still think about it sometimes,” Barger said. “We try to put it behind us and just keep it in the back of our minds as a reminder. We don’t want to feel like we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to, and we didn’t reach our potential. We want to do better, and we know we can.”
For the Terps (5-4, 0-1) to improve on their 1-4-1 Big Ten road record from last season, Barger said her team needs to be focused from the start. It was a problem the Terps encountered Friday at home against Rutgers when the Scarlet Knights scored the game’s lone goal one minute, 19 seconds into the match.
“We just have to really eliminate mental errors,” defender Kayla Shea said. “Like coach keeps saying, ‘Don’t beat ourselves.’ That’s the biggest thing that we have to improve on. Once we figure out how to not beat ourselves, we can beat anyone.”
Part of the issue lately has been scoring. Aside from a five-goal explosion against Yale, the Terps have been shut out in two of their past three contests, and they will face a stiff test Thursday.
Northwestern, which allows 0.40 goals per game, plays in a triangle formation on defense, Morgan said, the same scheme Rutgers used. Unlike the Scarlet Knights, though, the Wildcats play man-to-man and keep their defenders wide, Morgan said.
The Terps managed just two shots on goal against Rutgers, so in practice this week, they worked on different passing combinations in the attacking third. After perfecting the passes on a small field, the Terps moved to larger spaces before shooting on goal.
Shea said she hopes to get the ball into the middle of the field earlier than the Terps did against Rutgers, when they delayed their crosses until they were near the end line. The Terps displayed improvement in practice, and it’s an area Morgan said the team has to excel in to win this weekend.
“They have to be habits, not just every other game,” Morgan said. “As we told them, you set the standard with your intensity, with your defensive mindset and then with your soccer. Now it’s about can we continue to grow and be dangerous from an attacking standpoint.”
Last year, forward Alex Anthony, who’s tied for the third-most goals in the Big Ten, missed the Northwestern game due to injury, so Morgan has more confidence scoring with her in the starting lineup this time around.
And Shea is hoping that will help the Terps avoid another grim flight home.
“That’s the biggest motivation, having that bad experience last year,” Shea said. “With every team from last year that we didn’t beat, it’s extra motivation. This is a big weekend for us.”
