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After winning only one out of their first six games and starting their inaugural Big 10 season with a draw and a loss, things weren't looking too bright in College Park for a Maryland team that made the College Cup final last year. But all of that was a distant memory on Wednesday night when the Terrapins outlasted Rutgers to capture their first regular season Big 10 title thanks in part to the play of senior midfielder Alex Shinsky.
Shinsky assisted on the opening goal in the fifth minute by Mael Corboz and was credited with another assist on the eventual game-winner by David Kabelik in the 73rd minute. The pair of assists doubled his assist total for the season and gives him nine for his Terps career to go with two of his three career goals he's scored this season.
Sophomore goalkeeper Zack Steffen registered a pair of saves in the game four days after picking up his seventh clean sheet of the season in another critical game against Ohio State.
Maryland edged out Penn State for the title by a point on a night the Nittany Lions closed out their regular season with a 1-0 victory over non-conference foe Akron. Junior midfielder Brandon Savino provided the service for the game-winning goal, which gave the Nittany Lions a 12-4-1 overall mark for the season ahead of a post-season matchup Sunday afternoon with Andrew Herr and Michigan State.
Elon forward Chad Craig was named Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week for his performance in a 2-1 win over College of Charleston last week. The Gilbertsville native scored a goal - the second of his career - and assisted on the game-winning goal for the Phoenix to collect the honor.
You can see highlights of his goal (he's No. 13) at the 1:30 mark and his assist at the 2:00 mark in the video below.
La Salle junior midfielder Joe Farrell was the only other player with Union Academy experience to find the back of the net in the past week, scoring a goal and adding an assist in a 5-0 blowout of St. Bonaventure on Halloween night.
With the regular season coming to an end, the college season will shift into postseason mode as teams battle for the automatic bids that come with winning conference tournaments and wait to see how the NCAA tournament field pans out.
Georgetown's Keegan Rosenberry, Brett Campbell and Melvin Snoh and Xavier's Todd Pratzner will be hoping their postseason plans include a trip to PPL Park for the Big East semifinals on Friday, November 14 and the finals on Sunday, November 16.
Darius Madison and Virginia won their play-in game for the ACC tournament on Wednesday night to set up a battle with No. 1 seeded Notre Dame on Sunday. Freshman Noah Snyder, who made his longest appearance of the season last week with 45 minutes off the bench against Virginia Tech are playing No. 2 seed Syracuse on Sunday after winning their play-in game Wednesday against NC State. Shane Campbell, who has played just 11 minutes in the last five games for Louisville and the Cards have a Sunday match-up with Colton Storm and North Carolina.
Thomas Shiiba, Mark Shiiba and the Midshipmen have the Army-Navy Cup at PPL Park tonight to play ahead of the Patriot League tournament, which will also feature freshman standout Doyle Tuvesson and Lehigh.
Colton Amidon and Zach Herstak will be hoping to repeat as Atlantic 10 champions with their conference tournament in Richmond, Virginia, Nov. 13-16.
Matt Jeffery, Jelani Williams and Monmouth will be the No. 4 seed in the MAAC tournament after conceding just two goals in conference play all season. The Hawks with Jeffery anchoring their defense at center back are first in the nation in goals-against-average at 0.38.