After a pair of shutout losses in California, Maryland women’s soccer returned to College Park. The Terps face Illinois on Sunday at Ludwig Field, giving them a week to recover.

Maryland sits at 6-6 after 12 games, after a 2024 campaign where it won only four matches the entire season. The Terps are 6-1 at home, but there are still lingering questions as they search for their first Big Ten tournament appearance since 2019.

Figuring out the backline

Maryland has conceded a Big Ten-high 17 goals in 2025, leaving it with a minus-one differential in scoring this season.

After a 4-0 loss to Penn State, coach Michael Marchiano knew something needed to change to avoid being on the defensive for much of the match.

[Maryland women’s soccer drops second California match, falls 1-0 at No. 4 UCLA]

Maryland has improved defensively, albeit, slowly. The Terps allowed only one goal to No. 10 UCLA in their latest loss.

“Hopefully the girls can take confidence in the performance against UCLA, because I think there was a really stark improvement,” Marchiano said.

Maryland held the defending Big Ten champion scoreless for more than an hour. It was a major improvement from a 3-0 loss to USC three days before — though most of that loss could be credited to careless fouls and penalty kicks.

Marchiano said players had time to reflect, correct and watch film in between the two matches.

“In the middle of the USC game, we started to deviate a little bit from our principles,” he said. “We definitely spent a lot of time doing analysis work on an individual level and on a collective level, and we walked through some things at a training session, but it was mostly just video review.”

[Maryland women’s soccer drops first match of West Coast trip to USC, 3-0]

Lack of offense proving costly

The Terps have been shut out in every conference loss this season. Against USC and UCLA, Maryland recorded a combined two shots on goal. While the Terps’ opponents have shown an ability to rotate the ball and creatively capitalize on scoring opportunities, Maryland has not.

Going into the season, forward Kelsey Smith was named one of the Big Ten’s Players to Watch. The redshirt junior leads Maryland with four goals this season.

But since teams are aware of her scoring ability and athleticism, Smith constantly faces several defenders on her.

Forward Mckinley Heaven has stepped up alongside Smith. She scored match-winning goals in her first career starts against Indiana and Purdue, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Luckey in the net

Goalkeeper Faith Luckey has had a very active first season starting.

The redshirt sophomore faced a career-high 27 shots at Penn State, allowing four goals. She notched three shutouts to start Maryland’s season and recorded a season-high eight saves in a win over Purdue.

She struggled on the West Coast trip, conceding four goals over two matches, but much of that was due to penalty kicks and defensive shortcomings in front of her.

Luckey’s been a bright spot in front of a defense that has largely struggled to keep pressure off her. Her next test comes against Illinois, which shutout Maryland last season and ranks top-five in the Big Ten in goals this year.