COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland Terrapins dropped their first home match in the Big Ten Friday night, falling to Michigan State, 1-0, in frustrating fashion. The Terps (1-3-2) have now been shut out three times this season, a feat that before this year, opponents hadn't accomplished once since 2011.

Head coaches Sasho Cirovski and Damon Rensing exchanged pennants before the game as a sign of respect to each program's new conference member. But the match would begin and the polite regards would then dissipate for 90 minutes of action between two programs which shared a national championship in 1968.

Michigan State's Jason Stacy opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a right-footed strike from 10 yards past a fully-extended Zack Steffen. The goal was the junior midfielder's first of the season and was the Spartans' lone shot for nearly 78 minutes.   

Quiet for much of the first half, the Terps would up the pressure as the period ensued, capped off with a Tsubasa Endoh corner kick in the 41st minute that found Alex Crognale's head and the right post in swift succession, as a quiet fell over the 6,014 in attendance.

Maryland pushed the attack after the break, controlling the possession and pace for the remainder of the game. The Terps got their best chance to tie it up in the final minute after Jereme Raley crossed the ball to Mikey Ambrose who headed it toward the net. Spartan defender Zach Carroll cleared it using the same method, securing the Michigan State win in its first conference game of the season.

“The whole thing looked perfect like we were going to get a goal and you have to credit their guy,” said Cirovski of the final look by Ambrose. “He got the spot, the keeper was beat and he took it off the line.”

Maryland outshot the Spartans 8-2, crossing the ball all night, but the stout Michigan State defense was able to pack the box and escape Ludwig Field unscathed. The inability to score has become an unauthorized trend for last year's national runner-up as the Terps have scored just five goals in six games, which Cirovski said is the result of struggling to find the right group of forwards.    

“We haven't been able to find any rhythm, any synchronicity,” he said. “I think the spacing, timing of players is just not there.”

Cirovski moved up defender Raley as a starting forward, pairing him with Ryan Reid who showed impressive play in last week's tie at Michigan. Freshman George Campbell was a spark plug in the second half, but his 61 minutes yielded the same results as his team: close calls and missed opportunities.

“Trust me, you're going to be hearing from us, we're going to get a lot better,” said Cirovski. “This is a group I really believe in…we just can't score right now. They're going to come.”

Ben Strack, a senior journalism major at the University of Maryland, is a contributing writer to umterps.com.