Coach Missy Meharg’s Terps fell, 3-2, to Princeton in the NCAA Tournament Semifinals.
Late in the second half Friday, the Terrapins field hockey team’s hopes of advancing to the NCAA Championship seemed to be dwindling. It trailed No. 2-seed Princeton, 2-1, and the game clock was quickly ticking toward all zeros.
But with less than three minutes remaining, a referee’s whistle for a penalty stroke momentarily saved them. Defender Ali McEvoy launched a shot that hit the underside of the crossbar. Suddenly, the Terps had forced overtime and were one score away from facing top-seeded North Carolina in the title game.
But less than six minutes into the extra period, that same whistle ended their season.
After the Tigers drew a foul deep in the circle on Terps goalie Natalie Hunter, freshman midfielder Teresa Benvenuti stepped up and drilled the game-winning goal, clinching the Tigers’ 3-2 victory and sending the Terps home before the finals for the first time since 2007.
“We played a tremendous game and stuck to the plans,” coach Missy Meharg said after the game. “But Princeton is such a fast team, and their counterattack is probably the best in the NCAA that I’ve ever seen.”
Despite featuring the nation’s best offense and the leading goal scorer in forward Kathleen Sharkey — who scored two unassisted goals in the first half — Princeton struggled to get their attack going against the Terps (18-6). At the end of regulation, the Tigers had eight shots — just as many as the Terps had.
“We did the best we could with our defense, trying to tackle outside the circle,” McEvoy said. “But sometimes it doesn’t go your way.”
That defense met its biggest challenge yet in the final minute of the second half. After taking position following the Terps’ game-tying goal, Princeton did its part to run out the rest of the clock. It drew a penalty corner as time expired, giving itself an opportunity to have the final shot on goal. Although the Terps broke the play up, they were forced to do it all over again when the referees called for a repeat.
McEvoy came up big again on the second try, diving on the turf and knocking the ball out of play to force overtime.
But any magic that was left faded in the extra frame. The Terps didn’t get a single shot off and rarely held possession. The Tigers only took one shot, but it proved to be the only one that mattered.
The loss ended the Terps’ four-year title-game appearance streak and ended their bid to win a third consecutive national championship. The team’s eight seniors were treated to the earliest sendoff they had experienced in their careers.
Senior midfielder Megan Frazer, who won the 2010 title with a goal in double overtime and scored the go-ahead goal in the quarterfinal round this year against Connecticut, couldn’t repeat past heroics in her final game in a Terps uniform. Forward Jill Witmer, who clinched last year’s championship with an overtime goal, scored the team’s first tally Friday but didn’t take another shot.
After suffering more losses than in any season since 2004, maybe it just wasn’t the Terps’ year.
“I think all of us coaches know that. … It’s all about November, and that’s always a very exciting time,” Meharg said. “I’m not surprised that we put our best game together tonight, and I’m really thankful for that.”
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