The Maryland men’s soccer team has sputtered on offense over the past three games, scoring three goals in that span.
Despite plenty of opportunities to convert, the Terps struggled to find the back of the net. At first, they downplayed the issue, attributing their wasteful finishing to small mental errors.
But after the team’s latest frustration — a 1-1 draw at UMBC in which the Terps outshot the Retrievers 24-12 — coach Sasho Cirovski didn’t mince words, expressing disappointment with his offense.
“Our attacking players have got to execute with more precision,” Cirovski said. “Right now we’re leaving way too many chances unfulfilled in the final third.”
No. 3 Maryland hosts Northwestern on Friday in search of an attacking turnaround. After finishing last season with the nation’s second-ranked offense, the Terps are tied for 37th this year in goals per game (1.78).
Before Tuesday, Cirovski believed his attack was going to return to form soon. Maryland returned the majority of the production from last year’s unit, so the offense was expected to lead the squad to a successful season and deep NCAA tournament run.
But Maryland (6-0-3, 2-0-2 Big Ten) lacked its “final execution” against UMBC, Cirovski said, and again settled for a draw despite another wide shooting disparity.
Maryland tied Michigan State, 0-0, on the road Sept. 22 while outshooting the Spartans, 20-9.
Michigan State and UMBC set all-time attendance records against the Terps, something Cirovski believes drained the team.
“You’re seeing a little fatigue from getting everybody’s best game, to be fair,” Cirovski said. “Three [consecutive] away games, big crowds, big effort from the opposition.”
But that explanation didn’t hold weight with defender George Campbell.
“I personally didn’t see [fatigue],” Campbell said. “We should’ve been very ready to play this game, regardless of the conditions or how we felt. That’s my personal opinion.”
Twice in the first half, Campbell delivered crosses to forward Gordon Wild, the team’s leading scorer this year and last. Wild was open in front of goal in both cases.
But Wild headed his first chance wide and sent a diving header off the bottom of the crossbar about two minutes later. Forward Sebastian Elney and midfielder Eryk Williamson looked to the referee in hopes the ball had crossed the line, but their appeals were denied.
Later, defender Ben Di Rosa skimmed the top of the crossbar with a shot.
“You can hit the crossbar a million times in the game [but] it doesn’t matter,” Campbell said. “You’ve got to put it an inch down. That’s kind of the reality of it.”
Unhappy with his team’s play earlier in the campaign, Cirovski reverted to last year’s 4-4-2 formation, which helped Maryland to an undefeated regular season.
Still, the Terps have continued to lament their lack of finishing in the final third. Maryland ranks 13th in the country with 15.56 shots per game, but the squad hasn’t turned those chances into goals.
“When we get in front of the goal, it’s some guys are lacking a little focus,” Williamson said Monday. “[We need to make] sure that we’re engaged [and] we’re not kind of taking a play off just because we think it’s going to come easy.”
So, the Terps continue to wait for an offensive breakthrough as they approach their fifth Big Ten tilt.
“One of these days we’re going to start connecting on them,” Campbell said. “We’re going to start figuring it out and start scoring some goals. We’ve just got to keep plugging away.”
