COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Facing its fourth nationally-ranked program in six games, the Rutgers men's soccer team and No. 3 Maryland fought to scoreless halftime before the Scarlet Knights dropped a 3-0 decision to the Terps at Ludwig Field on Tuesday night.

Rutgers, facing back-to-back ranked opponents in conference play, fell to 1-4-1 on the year and 0-2-0 in Big Ten play. The Terps, who moved up two spots in the United Soccer Coaches Poll to No. 3 on Tuesday, remained unbeaten at 5-0-1 overall and 1-0-1 in conference.

All four Rutgers setbacks have come against teams ranked among the top 10 in this week's polls including No. 4 Wake Forest, No. 6 Michigan State and No. 8 North Carolina.

"While you can say all four of our losses are against programs currently in the top ten, this is something our program is not satisfied with," said head coach Dan Donigan. "Our guys have the shown the ability to compete with some of these teams and tonight we gave ourselves a chance by staying in the match holding one of the top teams in the country without a goal in the first half. We addressed at halftime that Maryland is very good at making slanted runs into the corners and into the penalty area to get the ball behind the backline, but you need to be able to make the adjustments against teams of this caliber."

Reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Gordon Wild accounted for two of the Terps' three goals on the evening.

Wild broke open the scoreless match in the 52^nd minute of play as Jake Rozhansky fed Eryk Williamson into the right side of the box. Williamson sent the cross five yards out from the center of the Scarlet Knight net setting up Wild for the 1-0 Terp lead.

Maryland went ahead 2-0 in the 60^th minute. Rozhansky dribbled along the right side of the 18 to once again set up a Wild tally. Wild managed to slip the ball inside the far post.

The Terps wrapped up scoring in the 85^th minute with Eli Grognale firing from 20 yards out into the lower left corner.

Rutgers' backline and goalkeeper Rafael Pereira combined for seven saves in the loss. Freshman Zeno Mazzucato swooped in for a defensive save at the far post in the latter part of the first half after Rozhansky chipped the ball past Pereira to keep the game scoreless heading into the half.

Maryland netminder Dayne St. Clair made two stops to collect his fourth shutout of the season.

 "The schedule doesn't get easier from here and these teams we have coming up in conference play are all very talented," added Donigan. "We need hard-nosed play and our guys to compete going forward."

The Rutgers men's soccer team returns home for a two-game homestand beginning with a doubleheader at Yurcak Field on Sunday, Sept. 17. The men welcome Ohio State at 1 p.m. followed by the women's hosting Maryland at 3:30 p.m. One ticket allows fans entry to both games. Fans can also gain free admission to the contest by showing their Rutgers vs. Morgan State football ticket stubs. Additionally, there will be a Rutgers soccer t-shirt giveaway.

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersMensSoccer) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/RUMensSoccer) for all of the latest news and updates. Fans also receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on both social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com.