Terp midfielder Cassie Phillips (7) is held off by midfielder Amanda Hill (27) when the West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Terps 1-0 at Ludwig Field on August 28, 2015.
West Virginia forward Amanda Pierre-Louis received the ball on her attacking side of the field in the 24th minute of the Mountaineers’ match against the Terrapins women’s soccer team Friday night.
Seconds later, Pierre-Louis released a shot from the right side of the box, and goalkeeper Rachelle Beanlands dove to save it. But with Beanlands on the ground, forward Kailey Utley beat defender Amanda Gerlitz to the rebound and tapped the ball into the left side of goal to give the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead that stood up for the remainder of the game.
No. 15 West Virginia was aggressive all night, outshooting the Terps 21-5, but Utley’s score marked the difference in the Terps’ 1-0 loss in front of 1,054 fans at Ludwig Field.
“Athletically, they’re just special,” coach Jonathan Morgan said. “All of their kids are pretty good on the ball, so if they can’t pass their way out of pressure, they can dribble out of pressure. We defended really well at times and got them exactly where we wanted them, but a special player was able to break the pressure and get themselves out of that jam.”
The Mountaineers (2-1) controlled the pace from the opening kickoff. In the seventh minute, forward Nia Gordon dribbled up the right side of the field and released a shot from just inside the box, which banged off the right crossbar.
After a cross from midfielder Amanda Hill off a free kick in the 15th minute, forward Heather Kaleiohi attempted a header from the middle of the box, but the ball sailed over the goal.
And in the 38th minute after taking the lead, midfielder Leah Emaus’ shot from outside the box smacked the top crossbar.
The Terps’ lone shot on the goal in the first half came from forward Alex Anthony, who has scored all three of the team’s goals this season, in the 42nd minute.
“Whenever we played it into our forwards, we had to turn it back. There wasn’t much space to turn at all,” Gerlitz said. “It seemed like they dropped pretty well when we were trying to play long balls over, so it cut off the space for the forwards too. They just seemed pretty organized.”
In the second half, the Terps switched from a 4-3-3 formation to a 4-4-2, which helped them match their foe’s pace for the first 20 minutes of the half. But the Terps couldn’t take advantage of their opportunities.
“They were much more athletic in the midfield than we thought,” Morgan said. “Trying to match up against them, three against three [in the midfield], was a pretty poor decision on our part. The first half we chased a little too much and didn’t necessarily have the legs to really get it going in the second half.”
In the 62nd minute, the Terps (2-1) had a chance to even the score, though. Midfielder Sarah Molina earned an open look at goal from the top of the box, but her shot landed wide right. While the Terps struggled to contain the Mountaineers, they were unable to finish off an insurance goal.
Three minutes after Molina’s attempt, West Virginia defender Maggie Bedillion had an open look from the left side of the goal outside the box, but her shot skimmed the top crossbar.
With seven minutes remaining, defender Shannon Collins crossed to Galanti on the attacking side of the field, but goalkeeper Hannah Steadman beat Galanti to the ball at the top of the box.
Just like that play, the Morgan’s squad failed to get many good looks at goal, something the Terps hope improves as they move into their conference slate.
“Credit to our backline because they were a really athletic team,” Beanlands said. “There were a lot of shots from the outside. We competed really well, but tactually, we have a couple things we need to work on.”
