There have been few programs worse than Maryland women’s soccer over the past two years. Last season, it culminated in a nine-game scoreless streak in Big Ten play, a nearly winless conference record and the firing of coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer.
But under new coach Michael Marchiano, the Terps showed promise in a season-opening 3-0 win over Lehigh on Thursday. It was Maryland’s (1-0) first three-goal win since last September.
Marchiano served as the team’s interim coach after Nemzer was fired in October last season and led the Terps to their first Big Ten win of the season. The former Maryland men’s soccer player was promoted to a full-time role this offseason and led a dominant effort in his first game.
“We want to make sure that we give a really high-level effort in every single time that we put on the Maryland jersey, and so as we move forward into the next game, it’s about recovering and preparing ourselves to go again with the same mentality and hopefully even more sharpness around the field,” Marchiano said.
Despite limited returning talent from last year’s team, the Terps’ chemistry looked sufficient Thursday night. Maryland’s athleticism in its offensive attack was apparent in the opening minutes of the contest, as it controlled the ball for the majority of the first period.
Forward Kelsey Smith consistently outmatched Lehigh (0-1) defenders, slipping past the Mountainhawks defense multiple times. The redshirt junior scored the first goal of the 2025 campaign 20 minutes into the first period.
Smith is expected to be one of the top contributors this season. She played in all 19 matches last year, logging 877 minutes — among the highest totals of returning players.
Alongside Smith, team captain and midfielder Ava Morales will need to take a massive leap from her 2024 production for Maryland to take a step forward. The senior started in just 11 matches last season but was one of the team’s most efficient offensive creators.
Thursday was a potential harbinger for Morales’s talents in an expanded role. She scored two goals in the first period to put the Terps ahead 3-0. Her first goal came just minutes after Smith’s score, which surely eased the concerns of players who slogged through last season’s offensive struggles.
Lehigh surged in the second half to test goalkeeper Faith Luckey in her first collegiate start. The redshirt sophomore made three saves to maintain the shutout.
Although the victory is a break from the losses of last season, Maryland has won its season opener the past nine years. Marchiano said it will be critical to maintain the momentum moving forward.
“The performance is a good starting point, and there was some good stability there,” Marchiano said. “As the season wears on, there will be challenges, there will be fatigue, there will be injuries, there will be different adversities that we face. But we just want to do this again.”
