COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Michigan State men’s soccer was overtaken late by No. 12/7 Maryland, 2-1, Saturday night at UMD’s Ludwig Field in a tightly contested, hard-fought match with the top of the table in the Big Ten Conference standings on the line.
MSU is now 4-5-2 overall and 3-2-0 in B1G play, with nine points in the league, while Maryland moves to 6-1-4 overall and 4-0-1 for 13 points in conference competition.
Sophomore defender Will Eby netted the Spartans’ goal, heading in a perfectly lofted and placed corner kick by junior defender Jeremy Sharp in the 59th minute. The Terrapins tied it in the 73rd minute and scored the go-ahead goal 10 minutes later.
Redshirt-junior goalkeeper Zac Kelly anchored a bold and resolute Spartan defense, that turned away chance after chance by Maryland. Kelly made several spectacular saves on the night, finishing with three saves and denying many other Terp crosses and chances.
UMD finished with a 13-7 shots advantage, but shots on goal were even at 5-5.
The Spartans bolted out of the gates, controlling the action in the match’s first 10 minutes, getting two quality chances by junior forward Jake Spadafora. The first chance was saved by Maryland keeper Laurin Mack in the fourth minute with the second chance going just wide of goal in the ninth minute.
Maryland countered with its own chances, as the Terps increased their intensity and pressure on the Spartan backline, which stood resolute and kept it scoreless. Kelly made a quick snag off a Maryland head in the 32nd minute, keeping the match 0-0, and that remained the score into halftime.
UMD increased its pressure to open the second half, but Kelly made back-to-back saves within the first six minutes of the second stanza, on a pair of Terps’ chances, including a point-blank save off a Maryland corner, keeping it 0-0.
The Spartans earned a corner kick in the 59th minute and Sharp lofted the ball into the mixer and Edy got a head to it and buried the ball in the back of the net for his first goal of the season and putting the finishing touch on Sharp’s first assist of the season, as they both registered their first points of any kind of the season.
MSU’s defense held strong until the 73rd minute when Terps tied it up in the 73rd minute on a goal by Colin Griffith, unleashing a bending shot from the top of the 18-yard box, just past Kelly’s out-stretched reach.
The Spartans looked to regain the lead in the 79th minute, but…
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