Maryland Men’s Soccer Stays Perfect as Rodrigo Neri Sinks No. 9 High Point

Maryland’s Rodrigo Neri and Dominic Ayella celebrate on the soccer field.

Maryland men’s soccer found its breakthrough late, and Rodrigo Neri supplied it. The freshman’s first collegiate goal lifted the fourth-ranked Terrapins to a 1–0 victory over No. 9 High Point on Saturday, August 29, keeping Maryland unbeaten through three matches.

Neri scored at 80:03, ending a long stretch in which neither side could turn its chances into a lead. The moment rewarded a Maryland team that finished with an 18–11 advantage in shots, while leaving enough time for High Point to test whether the Terps could close.

Laurin Mack helped ensure they could. The Maryland goalkeeper made six saves and recorded the 13th shutout of his college career. The official box score shows why his contribution mattered: High Point put six attempts on target, one more than Maryland’s five, despite taking fewer shots overall.

That contrast tells the story more clearly than the possession of a ranking alone. Maryland produced the larger shot count, but it still needed its goalkeeper to handle the chances that reached him. Neri delivered the winner at one end; Mack kept the match level long enough for that goal to become decisive.

A crowd of 5,123 watched at Ludwig Field as the Terps reached 3–0 for the first time since 2021. Maryland’s match recap also notes an 18-match regular-season unbeaten streak and a 10th consecutive home victory. Those streaks add context, but the immediate achievement was beating another top-10 opponent without conceding.

The result builds on Maryland’s comeback against New Haven, while offering a different kind of test. This was not about recovering from an early deficit. It was about staying patient in a scoreless match, finding one opening and protecting a narrow advantage against a ranked visitor.

Maryland returns to Ludwig Field on Friday, September 4, to face Delaware at 7:30 p.m. ET, with the match listed for B1G+. The next assignment is to turn a strong opening run into sustained consistency, without treating three wins as a finished season.

For now, the Terps have a new scorer on the board, a goalkeeper coming off a six-save shutout and another result that supports their early ranking. On a night decided by one goal, both ends of the field mattered.