William Kulvik looked down at the grass. Bjarne Thiesen dropped his shoulders in despair and Laurin Mack gazed at his defense in disbelief with outstretched arms.

Junior defender Luca Costabile was blunt after Maryland men’s soccer’s loss to Ohio State in its regular season finale last week — the defense is clearly worse than earlier in the season. Those struggles carried into the Big Ten tournament.

Third-seeded Maryland conceded six goals, including four in the second half, in a loss to sixth-seeded UCLA on Thursday, tying the most goals allowed in a single game in coach Sasho Cirovski’s 32-season tenure. In the Terps’ return to the conference tournament after a one-year hiatus, they exited after a single match.

A failure to track back on defense and pick up the runs of the Bruins’ forwards in the box confounded Maryland’s mess in the back. The Terps have now conceded 14 times in the last five games, a stretch of four losses and one tie.

Maryland’s back line was one of the best in the Big Ten at the beginning of the season. It kept clean sheets against Wisconsin and Indiana while limiting Northwestern, Penn State and Michigan State to just one score each. The Terps took 13 points from a possible 15 in the first five conference contests to vault them to the top of the standings.

“I feel like we’ve kind of lost a little bit of who we are as a team,” forward Max Rogers said after the Ohio State match.

[Maryland men’s soccer demolished by UCLA in Big Ten quarterfinals, 6-0]

Maryland’s defensive struggles against the Bruins began right before halftime.

UCLA defender Nicholas Cavallo dribbled down the left sideline with Terps freshman defender Jace Clark trailing behind him. Cavallo sent a low cross into the box as fellow Bruin defender Philip Naef sprinted in. Costabile got caught high up the pitch and tried to recover, but allowed Naef to enter a dangerous attacking area unmarked.

Naef tapped in his first-career goal with 56 seconds left in the first half. More poor marking led to another UCLA tally minutes after the restart.

Naef controlled the ball inside the box and fed a low pass across the face of goal, similar to Cavallo’s cross in the opening frame.

Clark was initially in position to make a play on the ball, but forward Andre Ochoa gained separation from the Terps’ freshman. Ochoa stood alone near the penalty spot and slotted home a third goal for the Bruins.

Maryland’s inability to track runners was evident on UCLA’s fourth goal inside 60 minutes, which was already the most scores the Terps have conceded in a game all season.

[Maryland men’s soccer’s losing streak continued, but its offense showed life]

The Bruins had possession in a familiar area of their attacking third. Forward Nikolai Rojel had the ball at his feet on the right-hand side while midfielder Edrey Caceres began his run. Caceres entered the box uncontested, slipping into the penalty area behind Clark.

Clark turned around to see Caceres all alone. He sent it over to the midfielder who hit a first-time volley into the bottom corner.

Maryland’s defense guided it to its best start in Big Ten history with three straight wins. But the unit stumbled to close the regular season and struggled mightily to begin the postseason, showcased by the Bruins’ six goals.

The defensive woes have the Terps entering the NCAA tournament losers of four straight and will likely render the team unseeded.

Maryland won its last national championship in 2018 without allowing a goal the entire tournament. It’ll need to show similar defensive success to return to the top of college soccer and avoid another early tournament exit.

“It’s just remembering who we are and remembering how dangerous and effective we can be and returning to … our identity,” Rogers said.