COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Maryland women's soccer team not only hosted the first-ever Big Ten competition on the College Park campus, but the Terps also earned Maryland its first victory in the Big Ten with a 2-0 win over No. 25 Rutgers Friday night in front of a raucous 1,409 at Ludwig Field.

The victory improves the Terrapins record to 3-2-1 overall this season, while the Scarlet Knights suffered their first defeat and are now 4-1-0.

“It feels great,” said Maryland head coach Jonathan Morgan. “Our kids battled, fought and this is the first game all season we competed for the entire 90 minutes. This is a quality win over a very good, organized Rutgers team. It's a hard group to break down, so to be able to get two goals against this group is great.

“I was really pleased with our soccer and our movement of the ball in the first half, but pretty disappointed we weren't as successful in the second half keeping the ball moving. It's a credit to Rutgers because they're a very good team that disrupts you. I'm excited about how we competed. This is the first time in two years that this team has really competed for a full 90 minutes and we leave here excited about that, because this group is starting to figure out how to win.”

The two teams, which haven't played in a regular season match since 2005, were feeling each other out in the early stages with both teams taking tries from distance that couldn't find the frame.

The first real opportunity of the match came in the 18th minute when junior Shannon Collins sent a beautiful cross field service to junior Sarah Fichtner, who had plenty of space, but the Rutgers defense recovered in time to block her shot.

Just three minutes later the Terps took a 1-0 lead on another terrific service from Collins. Sophomore Lauren Berman was taken down 10 yards outside the 18-yard box to set up the free kick. Collins stepped to the ball and delivered it into the six. Scarlet Knights' goalkeeper Casey Murphy came off of her line to play the ball, but she missed allowing the ball to bounce once before getting tapped into the empty net by junior Maisie McCune.

Senior Shade Pratt continued to show improvement as a forward and gave the Terrapins their next two opportunities.

First, she got past a defender with a slick move in the 24th minute and then used her outstanding pace to get into the box down the left side. Murphy came off of her line again to cut down Pratt's angle and made the save.

Pratt showed her increasing quality in the 37th minute. Coming down the right side this time, she got past three defenders, but ran out of real estate as she had little angle to shoot from and her cross into the box was knocked away.

As the first half clock ticked down it seemed as if the Terps would take a 1-0 lead into halftime, but a seemingly harmless service from junior Kayla Shea turned into a dangerous opportunity for Maryland when Murphy came out to play the ball, but couldn't handle it. Sophomore Natasha Ntone-Kouo out-raced her defender past Murphy and scored into an empty net with just 19 seconds left on the clock.

Collins continued to impress in the second half, especially on set pieces. A free kick in the 59th minute from nearly 40 yards out just missed curling inside the left post, while a corner kick in the 67th minute would have netted the Terps' third goal of the game had Murphy not tipped the ball enough to make it go wide of the goal.

Maryland had two more quality chances to add to its lead in the final minutes.

Fichtner found Berman with a cross to the right corner of the box in the 84th minute, but Berman's shot went just right of the post.

In the final minute of the game a loose ball in the Scarlet Knights' defensive third found its way to Pratt, who laced a shot at the goal, but Murphy made a sliding stop to keep it a 2-0 decision.

Junior goalkeeper Rachelle Beanlands needed to make just three saves to earn her second shutout of the season and the 10th of her career. Murphy finished the match with four saves.

The setting at Ludwig Field was spectacular for the University's first Big Ten contest with giveaways to Maryland students and the Might Sound of Maryland pep band played throughout the match.

“The atmosphere was really great,” said McCune. “Having this type of crowd with the band here, it really helped get us pumped to play. It really helped keep us motivated and helped us get through some of the rough spots tonight. The crowd was terrific.”

Maryland will have seven days off from competition before returning to Ludwig Field to take on Michigan on Friday, Sept. 19 at 4:00 p.m. That match is the first game of a women's-men's doubleheader that sees the Maryland men's soccer team take on Michigan State at 8 p.m.