PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Maryland went 49 minutes and 34 seconds without putting a shot on goal. Then Farouk Cisse, a defender who had not scored all season, put one there, and it went in.
No. 7 Maryland beat Rutgers 2-1 on Tuesday night at Yurcak Field in front of a season-high 614, with Rodrigo Neri scoring on the Terps’ first shot at 3:17, Amer Lukovic heading in the equalizer at 18:38 and Cisse winning it at 82:06. Rutgers outshot Maryland 15-9, put seven shots on target to Maryland’s five and won seven corners
to five. It was the Scarlet Knights’ second Big Ten loss, their sixth match against a ranked opponent this season and the first of two this week.
Rutgers came in at 5-4-1 and 3-1 in the Big Ten, winners of four of their previous five, three of those against ranked teams. Friday’s 4-0 win over Northwestern was built on three goals in the first nine minutes from Pius Ssebulime, Dan Karsten and Lukovic, who added a second in the 71st minute. The finishing complaint read 111 shots for 17 goals coming into Tuesday, and against Maryland the problem was not volume.
Maryland arrived at 6-2-1 and 1-2-1 in the Big Ten under Sasho Cirovski, as the defending conference champion and the program that went 12-0-3 through the 2025 regular season and finished it ranked No. 1. The Terps are the only team in the country with three top-10 wins this season, over No. 9 High Point, No. 5 Georgetown and No. 7 Wisconsin, but the league schedule has been rougher, with a 4-0 loss at Northwestern on Sept. 11, a 1-0 win over Wisconsin, a 2-2 draw with UCLA and a 3-1 loss at No. 2 Indiana on Friday. Neri is a freshman with back-to-back Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards, Henry Bernstein leads the team in assists, and goalkeeper Laurin Mack was the conference’s Goalkeeper of the Week after a six-save shutout of High Point.
Mack made six saves again on Tuesday. Rutgers put seven shots on goal.
Lineup
GK: Rafael Ponce de Leon
D: Simon Gorczowski, Devon Stopek, Nick Collins, Hector Criado
M: Pius Ssebulime, Zach Mastrodimos, William Pierce, Amer Lukovic, Francesco Di Ponzio
F: Dan Karsten
Subs: Abubakar Mayanja, Thomas Angelone, Erick Ruiz, Braxton Montgomery, Jeffrey Bryjak, Matty Lynch, Charlie Kitch
Jim McElderry kept the eleven that beat Northwestern, his second unchanged lineup in four matches after the same side started in Columbus and Seattle. The paperwork followed, reading four defenders, five midfielders and Karsten as the lone forward for the second straight home match after six, three and one on the road.
The half-hour change came anyway. Tonight, it was three, all at 29:50, 11:12 after Lukovic had equalized, with Abubakar Mayanja on for William Pierce, Thomas Angelone for Lukovic and Erick Ruiz for Francesco Di Ponzio. As with Braxton Montgomery in Columbus and Karsten against Northwestern, the man who had just scored was one of the players to go, showing once again that McElderry’s rotation runs on the clock, not the scoreboard.
The recalls came in three stages. Di Ponzio was back at halftime for Simon Gorczowski, with Montgomery replacing Karsten. Karsten, Pierce and Lukovic all returned together at 65:51 for Mayanja, Angelone and Ruiz, and Gorczowski came back at 75:14 with Jeffrey Bryjak, taking off Di Ponzio for the second time and Hector Criado. By the time Cisse scored, nine of the starting eleven were on the field. That made 12 substitutions and 18 players, down from 18 and 24 against Northwestern, and four Scarlet Knights went the full 90 with Ponce de Leon back for every minute, Devon Stopek, Nick Collins and Ssebulime.
Cirovski pulled his scorer even sooner. Neri and Rocket Ritarita, both starting forwards, came off at 26:14 for Said El Eyssami and Dominic Ayella, 22:57 after Neri’s goal. Luka Juricic and Bernstein followed at 37:28, and at halftime Cirovski sent all four starters straight back on. He made 11 substitutions with 15 players, and six Terps played all 90, Cisse among them.
El Eyssami, the freshman who scored the winner against Wisconsin, played 39 minutes in two shifts and did not take a shot.
Both Scorers Are Gone Before the Half Hour
Maryland needed 3:17 and one shot. The Terps won the ball in the Rutgers end, a long ball found the back line, and the cross came across for Neri, who volleyed it first time off his right foot into the bottom right corner for his team-high sixth goal. Bernstein and Franklin Affanyi were credited with the assists, Bernstein’s seventh of the season.
Rutgers answered with volume. Karsten forced Mack into a save at the bottom left at 6:47, Di Ponzio missed 11 seconds later, and then Lukovic went at Mack three times in three minutes, saved at the bottom right at 8:48, off target at 9:29 and saved again at the bottom center at 11:48. Maryland’s only reply was a Ritarita shot off target at 13:04.
The equalizer came off Rutgers’ first corner of the night. It was played short at 18:14, Karsten swung a cross into the box, and Lukovic rose to head it into the bottom left corner at 18:38, with Di Ponzio and Karsten credited with the assists. Lukovic had taken four of Rutgers’ first six shots, put three of them on target and scored with the last one.
Eleven minutes and 12 seconds later, he was on the bench.
In between, Maryland finally tested Ponce de Leon. Ritarita forced a save low to the left at 21:27 and Juricic drew another save at the bottom left at 26:59. Rutgers then had three shots in 28 seconds, with Di Ponzio and Karsten both blocked at 28:51 and 29:02 and Pierce off target at 29:19, and McElderry made his triple change 31 seconds after that.
Ayella forced Ponce de Leon’s third save at the top center at 32:32, Maryland won three corners in 50 seconds starting at 33:08, Rutgers won two more at 35:55 and 36:27, and Angelone sent Rutgers’ last attempt of the half off target at 38:01.
At halftime Rutgers had 10 shots to Maryland’s five and five corners to three. Maryland had put four of its five on target, Rutgers four of its 10, and it was 1-1.
Maryland’s fourth shot on goal had come at 32:32. Its fifth would not come for another 49 minutes.
Mack Saves Three More, and Cisse Wins It
Both coaches went back to their starters at the break. Cirovski restored all four of his first-half changes at once, bringing Ritarita, Neri, Juricic and Bernstein back on. McElderry put Di Ponzio back on for Gorczowski and Montgomery on for Karsten, and Di Ponzio gave away a foul 35 seconds into the half.
Rutgers had the better of the next 20 minutes. Mayanja forced Mack into a save at the top left at 50:25, Mastrodimos shot off target at 52:20, and at 60:49 Criado got the best look of the half, a shot headed for the bottom left that Mack turned away. Maryland did not attempt a shot until 65:23.
Then Rutgers stopped shooting. McElderry’s second wave arrived at 65:51 with Karsten, Pierce and Lukovic back on, but from Criado’s chance at 60:49 until 87:18 the Scarlet Knights took one shot, Lukovic’s off target at 75:13, a second before Gorczowski and Bryjak went on for Di Ponzio and Criado. Maryland took three over the same stretch, Ritarita at 65:23, Kenny Quist-Therson at 67:22 and Ayella at 76:55, and missed all three. Cirovski sent El Eyssami and Ayella back on for Ritarita and Neri at 69:44, and the teams split four corners.
At 82:06 Cisse carried the ball upfield on his own and finished low off his right foot. It was unassisted, it was his first goal of the season and his only shot of the night, and it was Maryland’s first shot on target since Ayella’s at 32:32.
Ponce de Leon faced one shot on target in the second half. It was the winner.
Rutgers had eight minutes to find another. McElderry sent Matty Lynch and Charlie Kitch on for Mastrodimos and Montgomery at 85:36, and at 87:18 Pierce got a shot away toward the bottom center that Mack saved, his sixth of the night. Rutgers was caught offside at 88:52, Pierce gave away a foul at 89:40, and that was the match.
In the second half Rutgers took five shots, put three on target and scored none. Maryland took four, put one on target and scored with it. Rutgers committed eight of its 10 fouls after the break, Mastrodimos three across the night, and after bookings in Columbus, Seattle and against Northwestern, nobody was carded, however the officiating left a lot to be desired from the fans and coaches.
Rutgers goes to Madison for No. 20 Wisconsin on Saturday at 8 p.m., the second ranked Big Ten opponent of the week and the team Maryland beat 1-0 on Sept. 18. The Scarlet Knights then host Indiana, which beat Maryland 3-1 on Friday, at Yurcak on Oct. 16, visit Penn State on Oct. 20 and host Michigan on Oct. 23.
Rutgers is now 5-5-1 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten, with 126 shots and 18 goals for a conversion rate of 14.3 percent, 52 shots on goal, 61 corners, 141 fouls, 22 yellow cards and no red cards. Ponce de Leon has made 36 saves and conceded 13 goals across 11 matches. Three of those saves came Tuesday, all of them before halftime.
On Sept. 11, Northwestern beat Maryland 4-0. On Friday, Rutgers beat Northwestern 4-0. On Tuesday, Maryland beat Rutgers 2-1 with one shot on target after halftime.
Wisconsin is four days away, and one goal from seven shots on target will not be enough there either.
