Northwestern’s substitutes managed to make a dent in the team’s Friday match at Maryland. Their efforts weren’t nearly enough.
Despite early attacking pressure, the Wildcats (5-3-1, 1-2-0 Big Ten) fell 4-1 to the No. 23 Terrapins (6-0-2, 2-0-1 Big Ten) in coach Russell Payne’s homecoming to his alma mater against his former coach, Sasho Cirovski.
The match was closer than the scoreboard indicated. NU outshot Maryland 16-15 and earned eight corners to the Terrapins’ four.
But the home squad capitalized on the Friday night lights, displaying a killer final touch, while the ’Cats failed to turn most of their chances into goals.
Graduate student midfielder Joe Suchecki, who spent his undergraduate years at Maryland, shot his first attempt and earned the ’Cats a corner seconds into the match. Terrapin forward Rocket Ritarita responded a minute later with a shot towards the bottom right corner, saved by graduate student goalkeeper Josue Hangi.
The game marked Hangi’s first NU start after senior starter Rafael Ponce de Léon received a red card in the team’s win over Rutgers on Sept. 19 and was suspended for the Maryland match.
Both sides remained deadlocked for half an hour until senior defender Nigel Prince took down Terrapin forward Sadam Masereka in the box. Terrapin midfielder Leon Koehl’s penalty kick slid into the left side of the net, giving Maryland the upper hand.
And the Terrapins made the most of their momentum immediately.
Moments after Koehl’s opening goal, Terrapin defender Luca Costabile fired a cross from the left to midfielder Albi Ndrenika, who struck the ball into the bottom right corner to make it 2-0.
Redshirt sophomore forward Italo Addimandi and senior midfielder Jayvin Van Deventer each came on following Ndrenika’s goal. He joined sophomore forward Omar Jallow and junior midfielder Peter Riesz, who both entered the pitch 27 minutes in.
It was Jallow who received Addimandi’s set piece off his chest in the 37th minute. Jallow sent the ball to Riesz, whose shot rolled past several defenders to put the ’Cats on the board.
Yet Maryland righted its ship in the second half and dominated from there. Their pressing presented a consistent threat to Hangi.
In the 64th minute, Ndrenika moved past Jallow with a stepover and fed the ball to teammate Luke van Heukelum, whose header Hangi slapped away. But Masareka arrived in the six-yard box to score a spectacular bicycle kick that put the Terrapins up by two.
Hangi’s leaping save of another long range strike from Ndrenika turned into disaster on the ensuing set piece. He punched Costabile’s corner straight up into the air but then hit the falling ball into his own net.
The self-inflicted goal was the nail in the coffin for the ’Cats. They return home to play Washington at 7 p.m. Monday.
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