On a June day in 2010, Brian Pensky sat at his desk and read one of the most important emails of his Terrapins women’s soccer coaching career. 

He usually received between 30 and 50 emails per day from potential recruits, but that afternoon, one from Rachelle Beanlands stood out among the rest. 

Beanlands was a member of the Canadian national U-17 team, but she wanted to play college soccer in the U.S.

“We would have been foolish not to jump on that,” Pensky said.

Five years later, Beanlands has the most starts for a goalkeeper in school history. When she slips on her No. 33 Terps jersey for the final time against Nebraska on Wednesday night, she’ll look back on the journey that brought her from Ottawa, Ontario, to College Park. 

Despite struggling to transition to the college game in her first season, Beanlands has become one of the most accomplished goalkeepers in program history. This season, she has emerged as a leader and a consistent force between the pipes as the team sits at 6-11-1 and 1-8-1 in Big Ten play.

Luck was on the Terps’ side that summer day. Beanlands sent the email to 10 schools, but the Canadian fell in love with the Terps’ program after two visits. And about one month after traveling to College Park for the first time, she accepted her scholarship to play for the Terps.

“They knew what they were getting before she even got there,” said Jimmy Zito, Beanlands’ club coach with the Ottawa Fury. “She’s probably the best goalkeeper to come through Ottawa to this date, youth-wise.”

THE FIRST IMPRESSION

Rob Beanlands knew how badly the Terps wanted Rachelle Beanlands from the moment he stepped into Pensky’s office in Comcast Center in July 2010.

About a month after sending the email to Pensky, Rachelle Beanlands flew from Ottawa to Reagan National Airport for her first visit to College Park.

Laurie George, who trains the Terps’ goalkeepers, was on a leave of absence after recently having a baby girl. Still, she traveled from Ellicott City with her child to meet the Beanlands family. 

“She was very energetic and very excited to have a goalkeeper recruit,” Rachelle Beanlands said. “It was really good to meet her and to see her coaching philosophy. It seemed like it was going to be a really good fit, and it has been.”

After Beanlands took her seat, she pulled out a notepad and prepared to take notes for her mother, who didn’t make the trip to College Park.

“I said to her when I started talking, ‘Holy cow, you got me a little nervous now. I better bring my A-game right now because you’re in my face with a notepad,’” Pensky said.

In their hourlong meeting, they discussed life on the campus, housing, the team, time management and what students do for fun. Pensky also confirmed that if Beanlands were asked to return home to play for Team Canada, he wouldn’t have a problem with it.

After the gathering, Rob Beanlands, Rachelle Beanlands and Pensky toured the campus on a golf cart. It was Ludwig Field, especially the grass, that stuck out to Rachelle Beanlands. It wasn’t long and thick like Canadian grass.

“I was kind of in love with the grass they have here,” Beanlands said. “It’s very slick, and it’s very nice to dive on.”

By the end of the visit, Pensky delivered his pitch. He hadn’t seen her play, but the Canadian national U-17 coach, Bryan Rosenfeld, told him Beanlands had the potential to start for the Canadian squad. Rosenfeld said the only reason she wasn’t starting was because goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo could “kick a ball a country mile.” 

Rachelle Beanlands

So Pensky offered Beanlands a scholarship on the spot. 

“It was an environment where the girls felt comfortable speaking up about what was going on,” said Geneviève Beanlands, Rachelle Beanlands’ mother. “There’s nothing more that we could’ve asked for than for our daughter to go into an environment like that. It felt like a family.”

‘DILIGENCE IS THE MOTHER OF GOOD LUCK’

Rachelle and Rob Beanlands were touring Penn’s campus, one of four Beanlands was considering, at the end of July on a visit when Rob Beanlands noticed the array of Benjamin Franklin quotes under his feet.

The university had ingrained quotes from Franklin, the school’s founder, into the ground on a walkway on their campus.

Beanlands read one aloud to his daughter: “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”

When the two looked up from the ground, there was a man walking by them wearing a red T-shirt with white writing. At first, the pair couldn’t make out what the shirt said, but as the man approached, Rob Beanlands knew it was a sign.

“Maryland soccer” was emblazoned on the shirt. 

Beanlands made another trip to College Park after visiting her final four schools and accepted her scholarship to spend her college career with the Terps.

The program was “off-the-charts excited” when Beanlands committed, Pensky said. “Obviously we knew we were getting a great goalkeeper. But we’re also getting a big-time person. We knew we were getting a kid who would do everything she could possibly do to be as great as she could possibly be.”

EARLY STRUGGLES

Beanlands came flying out of the box Sept. 20, 2012, to jump on a cross in her first game against Duke.

But with less than four minutes remaining and the Terps leading 2-1, Beanlands couldn’t control the ball. Blue Devils forward Kim DeCesare took advantage, netting the equalizer in the eventual tie. 

It was one of many mistakes Beanlands made in her first two seasons as she transitioned to the college game. And it almost cost her the starting job.

“I said, ‘If you want to continue, you got to get these balls,’” George said. “There were days that were hard. That’s where you have to stay positive with her, and just put her up. And be like, ‘Beans, all right, let it go. But you got to be better the next time. You got to come out and win that ball next time.’”

Rachelle Beanlands

Beanlands allowed 1.07 goals per game as a redshirt freshman and 1.49 her sophomore season. Instead of complaining about her struggles, though, she worked harder.

Some of Beanlands’ mistakes early in her career were because of her lack of communication with the backline. As a freshman in 2012, Beanlands was afraid to tell senior defenders what to do. 

Now, as a senior, Beanlands constantly shouts instructions at her defense.

“She was very uncomfortable in her own skin being able to speak up and having the courage to do so,” Pensky said. “That’s very normal. We had 22-year-old senior defenders, so you’re going to be terrified to tell those kids potentially what to do.”

And though George, the goalkeepers coach, was demanding of Beanlands when she made errors, she knew Beanlands would develop into a great netminder. The pair now can recall that Duke game and laugh about it.

“We all look back and remember that day,” George said. “Now, she’s under pressure. We’re relying on her. I always tell her before a game, ‘Do your job, and make saves.’ She’s doing that for us.”

FINISHING STRONG

While the Terps sit at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, Beanlands has been a bright spot for coach Jonathan Morgan’s squad. She’s made clutch save after clutch save to keep the Terps in games while the offense has connected on just five goals in 10 Big Ten games.

Beanlands has recorded a career-high 75 saves and has surrendered just 0.99 goals per contest this season. And in conference play, Beanlands has faced an average of 16.6 shots per match and has allowed only 1.3 per match past her.

Plus, the redshirt senior has started the most games at her position in Terps history. And on Senior Night on Saturday, Beanlands made her 259th career save, moving her into third in program history.

“If you look at her last two years, when we were good, she’s big in the goal and she feels big,” Morgan said. “But when it went bad, she shrinks. You just didn’t feel that energy. Now, even when we’ve gone down, she’s still been big.”

So as Beanlands steps onto the field for the final time Wednesday, she won’t regret a moment of the process that led her to travel to a different country and become one of the most accomplished goalkeepers in Terps history.

“She’s been a person we could count on this entire season,” forward Alex Anthony said. “It’s what you come to expect from her. I hate that the record reflects more on her since she’s in goal. There’s no way you could say any of these losses could be on her.”