The No. 1 Terrapins field hockey team, in the latest edition of its rivalry against No. 3 Old Dominion, fell to the Monarchs, 2-1. Despite a late comeback attempt and penalty corner opportunities, they failed to overcome the deficit that plagued them throughout the entire second half.
Old Dominion made its presence known early, scoring the first goal of the game off a penalty corner after less than six minutes of play. Monarchs forward Kimberly Oates added to the score about 13 minutes later, giving her team a 2-0 advantage that would carry into the halftime break.
“They set the tempo of the match, and it’s tough when you go down 2-0,” Meharg said. “We’re going to work really hard on maintaining our intensity for long segments of time. Hopefully, there are good lessons from today.”
The Terps’ struggles with ball control and maintaining possession continued into the second half, but forward Katie Gerzabek finally put the Terps (2-1) on the board with less than 10 minutes remaining. Finding a newfound intensity, the team generated three penalty corner chances in the last two minutes.
But they couldn’t find a way to tie the game, and the Monarchs (2-1) came away with another regular season victory against the Terps. It was also the first time the Terps failed to win their home opener in program history. But for Meharg, it’s all about looking forward to the next battle, which will be on Sunday when they host No. 13 Ohio State.
“I’m very proud of the way we played in the second half, and when we can put two halves of hockey together it’s going to be a great game,” Meharg said.
