Maryland women’s soccer was handed its worst defeat of the 2022 season at the hands of Michigan State — a 4-0 trouncing at Ludwig Field.
Sunday’s loss marked the Terps’ fourth consecutive defeat after the program’s milestone win against Michigan. The defense allowed the most goals in a single match all season against the Spartans.
The Terps have conceded 10 goals over their past four losses while scoring just three. Maryland has allowed more goals in the past four games than the rest of the entire season, a campaign that started off with strong defensive play.
Heading into kickoff for the Michigan State game, Maryland’s backline underwent a few changes.
“There’s some injuries that we’re having right now, and the travel probably stacks up a little bit right now,” coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer said. A team spokesperson said the team declined to specify the injuries.
[Maryland women’s soccer drops fourth-straight match, 4-0, to Michigan State]
Defender Christa Waterman started the game on the bench and only played four minutes in the defeat, her fewest minutes of the season. The loss marked just the second game all season the Terps have played without Waterman starting.
The graduate defender has logged a full 90 minutes six times for the Terps with the most recent against Wisconsin Thursday night.
Defender Tahirah Turnage has also missed out on recent matches.
Turnage hasn’t played since the Terps’ 3-2 loss against Illinois. The freshman defender found her way into Maryland’s starting 11 in early September.
Since Maryland’s defeat to Wake Forest, Turnage had started every game up through the match against Illinois in the Terps backline and picked up Big Ten honors after helping to shut out Michigan in Maryland’s 1-0 win to start Big Ten play.
In their last few matches, the Terps have played some of the highest scoring offenses in the Big Ten. Rutgers, Michigan State and Wisconsin are first, second and third in scoring in the conference this season as of Tuesday
[Maryland women’s soccer falls to No. 23 Wisconsin, 2-1]
Maryland kept Rutgers scoreless until the last three minutes of the matchup. The Terps also scored against Wisconsin within the first 10 minutes of the game and kept the Badgers scoreless for the first half.
Nemzer gave credit to Michigan State for its performance and is looking ahead to try and flip the script in Sunday’s matchup against Penn State.
“I can’t wait to go watch film and go break this down because there’s a lot of teaching moments,” Nemzer said.“These are the games … that some people say, ‘We want to move on from it.’ I want to move on from it, but I want to learn from it.’”
The Penn State offense will pose another big challenge for the Terps. Despite coming off of a 3-0 loss to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions have posted 21 goals in 12 games this season — sixth in the conference.
