In his post game interview, Maryland women's soccer coach Jonathan Morgan said his team - which counts seven sophomores and one freshman in its starting eleven - was still learning about the college game. Tonight at Ludwig field, the young Terrapins dished out some hard lessons to The Citadel chalking up a 9-0 rout in which they outshot the visitors 34-1.
Though the Terps controlled the early play, keeping the ball on the Bulldog's side of the filed for most of the first fifteen minutes or so, they appeared a bit loose in their play and didn't break through until the seventeenth minute when Ashley Spivey knocked in a one-timer on a redirect off a corner kick. Spivey struck again about seven minutes later with another one-timer off a cross from the right corner from Haley Brock. Having notched an assist on Spivey's first goal, freshman forward Lauren Berman scored the first goal of her Maryland career finishing Riley Barger's redirect of a cross from redshirt senior Megan Gibbons. Berman needed just over a minute to provide the Terrapins a 3-0 margin they would take into the locker room at the half.
Maryland exploded for six goals in the second half including an outburst of four goals in just over five minutes. First, Aubrey Baker took a pass from Spivey in open space just inside the right corner of the eighteen yard box for an easy score. Two and a half minutes later Berman picked up her second assist of the night and Spivey garnered a hat trick on a simple finish into the left corner. Goal number three came off the foot of Erika Joab on a twenty yard free kick as she blasted a grounder into the lower left hand corner of the goal. After stealing a Bulldog pass, Haley Brock used a burst of speed to get behind The Citadel defense and score the breakaway goal. Alex Doody and Sarah Molina wrapped up the Terps scoring as Morgan substituted freely with the comfortable seven goal lead.
After the game, Coach Morgan called this group "a fun team to coach. They are the most fit team I've had in my seven years at Maryland," he added. Spivey spoke of being excited to play forward and of her "great chemistry" with Haley Brock and indicated that the team might be playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder saying, "It annoys us that we always get looked down upon and we're not ranked as high as we think we should be. People shouldn't underestimate us because we're going to prove everyone wrong." Berman spoke confidently of the competitiveness of practices and of her expectation that with continued hard work the team will "get to the NCAA championships."
It's easy to seem confident after thrashing an outclassed opponent by nine goals but if their post game interviews are any indication of the direction of this young team, Terp soccer fans should be in for a fun and exciting ride.