Forward Alex Anthony reacts after recovering a rebound in the box and missing during the Terps’ 1-0 loss to Rutgers at Ludwig Field on September 18, 2015.
No. 15 Rutgers hadn’t allowed a goal in 630 minutes entering Friday night, so the Terrapins women’s soccer team knew scoring would be tough.
And as expected, chances were difficult to come by. The Terps managed just two of their eight shots on goal and fell, 1-0, before an announced 1,189 at Ludwig Field.
“It’s tough because their defense collapses centrally as soon as we get the ball,” said forward Alex Anthony, who tied a season low with one shot. “Rutgers is a very physical team, and we knew this going into it. They really didn’t let up much at all, which is always difficult when you have pressure running at you.”
The only scoring in the contest came less than two minutes into the game when Scarlet Knights midfielder Madison Tiernan started a run down the right side of the field.
Tiernan crossed to forward Colby Ciarrocca, who leads her team with seven points, at the top of the box, and defenders Shannon Collins and Kayla Shea collapsed to her. So on her first touch, Ciarrocca tapped the ball backwards to forward Samantha Valliant, who found the right side of the net one minute and 19 seconds into the match to give Rutgers (8-0, 1-0 Big Ten) a 1-0 lead.
“There were times the game got a little away from us,” defender Shannon Collins said. “We know [Ciarrocca] has some speed and a good touch on the ball. We just got caught a little flat-footed, and we started off a little slow.”
Before the contest, forward Gabby Galanti said the Terps (5-4, 0-1) planned to attack Rutgers’ defense by moving the ball down the flanks to open up the middle of the field. Whenever the Terps attacked the sides of the field, though, a Rutgers defender was usually there to block their cross.
Coach Jonathan Morgan’s squad was held to three shots in opening 45 minutes, matching their second fewest in a half this season.
“It’s always hard when you have to chase [behind a goal] so early,” Morgan said. “Just couldn’t find something in the scoring phase. When we had those moments, it was either the service wasn’t clean enough, or we were off-balance and we were rushing it.”
The Terps’ lone shot on goal in the opening period came in the 42nd minute when midfielder Maisie McCune drew two defenders in the middle of the box and passed to forward Lisa Bianchini on the left side of the goal. Her strike sailed over the crossbar after goalkeeper Casey Murphy punched it, though.
Anthony almost tied the match in the 64th minute when Murphy dropped the ball while trying to save midfielder Riley Barger’s cross into the box. From five yards out with no defenders guarding her, Anthony’s attempt sailed high.
“It was a good ball in by Riley,” Anthony said. “Once I got up, I kind of disrupted the keeper, which is what I’m supposed to do. When the ball came back down, it was a little bit outside the near post, so I really had to turn my hips and kind of get around it. I just kind of had a missed hit and was leaning back a little bit.”
The Terps failed to get another good scoring opportunity after Anthony’s miss, as Rutgers improved its scoreless streak to 720 minutes.
“They just drop so much,” Morgan said. “They give you no space to play behind. The times you do get behind, you have to be able to take advantage of that. That’s who they are, and that’s why they don’t give up goals. You have to figure out a way to break it, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
