Maryland men's soccer suffers second loss of the season to Georgetown

Maryland men's soccer registered its second loss of the season Wednesday against regional rivals Georgetown on Arun Basuljevic's goal in the 83^rd minute.

In a 1-1 game, the Terps seemed out of trouble when they blocked Brandon Allen's shot, but the defense was unable to clear a ball in the air and instead put it right onto the feet of Basuljevic, who ripped a shot past Maryland goalkeeper Cody Niedermeier.

After not having to make a save in the first half, Niedermeier was quickly attacked by the Hoya offense in the second half. In the 51^st minute, Georgetown's Brandon Allen sent a pass right by sliding Maryland defender Ivan Magalhaes to Alex Muyl, who took a couple touches and ripped a low shot into the left corner of the net to give the Hoyas a 1-0 lead.

The goal was the first Niedermeier had allowed in three games after he turned in clean sheets in the team's double-overtime victories against Michigan and Michigan State, as well as in the team's 1-0 victory against Navy.

Sebastian Elney tied the game up in the 69^th minute when he got a shot off right in front of Georgetown keeper JT Marcinkowski. Marcinkowski couldn't corral the shot and the ball bounced right back to Elney, who was able to take one touch and pass it in to the wide open goal.

Alex Crognale turned in a great effort on defense, especially in the first half. It seemed like every time Georgetown got the ball into Maryland's side of the field, Crognale was able to head the ball out of danger.

Each goal came off of a turnover, a fact that Cirovksi hammered on post-game.

The first half was a battle of the defenses. The frame featured only three shots on goal, all by Maryland. Neither team attempted a shot until Tsubasa Endoh kicked one wide right in the tenth minute. Amar Sejdic shot another one a minute later that goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski blocked. Georgetown's Alex Muyl had arguably the closest shot of the half, chipping one a couple feet over the goal in the 12^th minute after Niedermeier had come out of goal just a little bit. That was as close as either team came to scoring for quite a while.

"We did everything right," Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski said of that first half. "Our defensive shape was great, our ball movement was great, I'm sure no team has played them that well all year."

He called the game "proof of the capacity we can have a great season," but acknowledged he left the game with an "empty feeling."

The second half belonged to the Hoyas. After losing the shot battle in period one, Georgetown had a 13-7 advantage in that department in the second half, and definitely had possession more often than the Terps did.

Freshman forward/midfielder Jorge Calix received the most playing time he had all season and did not disappoint. He had the Terps' best scoring chance of the first half, launching a shot from outside the box that had a lot of heat on it, but Marcinkowski was able to make the save.

"I thought [Calix] was a bright spot off the bench," Cirovski said. "Lots of energy, some good skill. I thought he worked his butt off, really, from one end to the other and I thought he was outstanding."

While the Terps were riding a three-game shutout streak, they were also coming into the game only having scored one goal in their last three games.

"It felt good to finally break the seal and get the first goal, and more will come, definitely," Elney said.

Maryland takes on Wisconsin (2-5) on Sunday as it continues its string of road games.