On Friday night, the Terrapin women’s soccer team was angry.
After No. 13-ranked Southern California scored goals in the 80th and 94th minute to turn a 1-0 Terps’ lead into a 2-1 overtime loss, the team leaders initiated a meeting with the Terps’ coaching staff that lasted for about 90 minutes.
“They were livid with letting Friday night’s game slip away,” coach Brian Pensky said. “It’s that kind of mentality that we need.”
The Terps took their frustration out on Loyola Marymount yesterday, beating the Lions 3-0 to split their two games at the Hoosier Classic in Bloomington, Ind.
“We had that opportunity in hand [Friday night], and we let it slip away, and there’s no excuse for that,” Pensky said. “But our kids did all the little things right all weekend. I felt we had a pretty good plan going into [yesterday], and the execution was great.”
Freshman forward Kylie Ricker put the Terps on the board yesterday in the 57th minute with her first collegiate goal when she headed in a ball that had been played into the box on a corner kick by freshman midfielder Caitlin McDowell.
Senior defender Ashly Kennedy scored her first goal of the season less than two minutes later off of a free kick, and junior midfielder Aimee Bresani scored her first of the season in the 81st minute to give the Terps some insurance.
“[Yesterday] was our most complete performance of the season so far,” Pensky said. “I thought just in general we played quicker.”
The Terps’ defense also played extremely well, as the Lions only managed four shots on goal.
Freshman goalkeeper Yewande Balogun did not need to make any saves to earn her second shutout of the season.
“LMU has three or four pretty dynamic players,” Pensky said. “We never let those kids breathe [yesterday], and they were never able to get into any kind of flow or rhythm.”
On Friday night against USC, junior midfielder Nataly Arias, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, scored her first goal since September 2005 in the 30th minute, and the Terps led for nearly 50 minutes.
“We were up 1-0, but USC had the run of play on us,” Pensky said. “In the second half it became us defending for our lives.”
A defensive mistake led to the Trojans’ first goal by senior forward Lauren Brown, and freshman midfielder Alyssa Davila scored the golden goal in overtime on another play that Pensky said probably could have been avoided.
The Terps managed just three shots against the Trojans, despite averaging 32.7 shots in their other three games.
“It was extremely disappointing,” Pensky said.
The Terps return to action on Friday when they are scheduled to face Dartmouth at Ludwig Field.
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