The AU men's soccer team's winless streak stretched to four games Tuesday afternoon after a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the No. 2 University of Maryland Terrapins in College Park, Md. The loss drops the Eagles' record on the season to 3-5-1.
Maryland came storming out of the gates and immediately proved why they are ranked as the second best team in the country.
Freshman forward Casey Townsend scored twice in the first five minutes of play. The first occurred as he came off of a rebound following a save by freshman goaltender Matt Makowski in the fourth minute of play, while the second occurred on a pass from junior midfielder Jeremy Hall one minute later.
The Terrapins continued the offensive push in the 20th minute of play, when junior defender Omar Gonzalez shot freshman midfielder Matt Kassel's free kick into the net for a 3-0 Maryland lead.
The Eagles got their best opportunity of the match with six minutes remaining in the first half, when junior midfielder Luis Martinez caught a pass from sophomore midfielder Danny Shannon, but the Terrapin defense was able to end the threat.
After Maryland headed into halftime with a commanding 3-0 lead, they added a fourth goal in the second half, when freshman forward Matt Oduaran beat Makowski to give the Terrapins the eventual 4-0 victory.
The Eagles struggled against Maryland in every offensive category, getting out-shot 16-3 and losing the corner kick battle 6-3, which prompted AU head coach Todd West to praise his opponent.
"We lost to a better soccer team tonight," West told AUeagles.com. "Now we know the level of play it takes to be an NCAA tournament team and we have to strive every day at practice to get to that level."
The Eagles will now open their Patriot League portion of the schedule on Saturday as they travel to West Point, N.Y., to take on the U.S. Military Academy. The match begins at 1 p.m.
You can reach this staff writer at jhall@theeagleonline.com.
