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Maryland looked like they had two consecutive conference wins coming. Then Northwestern equalized late. And then they won it in OT. And Maryland now sits at 1-1-2 in Big Ten play and suffered another disappointing loss. Such is life in college soccer though, there's no time for the Terps to get down on themselves. They have to get right back at it and try to grab a win over Villanova.
Villanova currently sits at 6-3 on the season. The Wildcats won their opening three games of the year over Albany, Drexel, and Delaware before losing three of four to Monmouth - yeah, Monmouth - Temple, and Butler. The Butler loss was a 3-0 defeat. They have bounced back though, with two straight wins over La Salle and Marquette.
How to Watch
TV: None
Online: BTN2Go
Twitter: Follow Maryland Men's Soccer
When: Monday, October 5th, 7 PM.
Players to Watch
Sean Sheridan, Midfielder - The Senior has four goals so far on the year for the Wildcats. He also has multiple assists so far this season as well. He's a dangerous player on dead ball situations and is effective at getting involved with counter attacks for Nova and making late runs to get a goal.
Padraic McCullaugh, Forward - McCullaugh has two game winning goals on the year and is Villanova's best threat from the forward position. He's a towering 6'6' and very capable of out muscling players. It would not be a surprise at all if Nova decides to hoof the ball up to him repeatedly and have him hold the ball up and wait for runners to come forward. Maryland will also have to deal with him on any set pieces.
Strengths
Set pieces - As I mentioned above, Sheridan is dangerous from dead ball situations and he has had two assists on set pieces in the last two games. McCullaugh of course is the big threat, but Sheridan puts enough good balls in that anyone can be a threat.
Creating shots - Villanova ranks 10th in the country in shots on goal per game, with 7.25. While they haven't always done a great job converting those chances, the Wildcats give themselves plenty of high quality opportunities.
Weaknesses
Shot conversion - As I mentioned above, they don't do a great job of taking advantage of those chances. Consider this the flip side to one of their strengths. They're 40th in the country in goals per game.
Defense - Nova is 147th in the country in goals allowed, giving up 1.6 per game. And have allowed multiple goals to Drexel, Monmouth, and Butler, including three goals to the latter two.