xDefender Megan Gibbons and the Terps were ranked as high as No. 3 after an early-season draw with Stanford.

Only six weeks ago, expectations — not desperation — had come to define the Terrapins women’s soccer team’s season.

After posting the best record in program history and earning their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2010, the Terps had their sights set on advancing beyond the NCAA Tournament’s second round and Sweet 16, where their previous two seasons had ended. After a scoreless tie with No. 1 Stanford in late August, the Terps were ranked as high as No. 3 nationally.

But a spell of injuries and bad luck has plagued the No. 15 Terps since, sending them tumbling down the rankings and miring them in the middle of a competitive ACC. Sunday’s game at No. 6 Duke and Oct. 27’s date with No. 8 North Carolina, which only a month ago could have been seen as preparation for the ACC Tournament, now might determine whether the Terps’ season stretches beyond this month.

“Right now, we’re desperate,” forward Ashley Grove said. “That’s the only feeling we should be feeling right now. … If we don’t get at least a point or two out of these last two games, we could be done for the ACC Tournament. If we don’t make the ACC Tournament, who knows if we’re going to make the NCAA Tournament.”

Coach Brian Pensky has talked about desperation at other points during the year, but now it’s a necessity for the Terps. Where it once applied to end-of-game situations, it now applies to, potentially, the end of the Terps’ season.

“Whether or not we’ve been playing absolutely in desperation, I think sometimes we have, and sometimes we haven’t,” Pensky said. “We’re at a stage where everything we do needs to be a little bit desperate.”

The team’s situation warrants that attitude and thought process. The Terps are in sixth place in the ACC, and only the top eight teams in the conference advance to the postseason tournament. But the Terps’ loss to Miami on Sunday allowed the Hurricanes back into the race, creating a situation where nine teams are vying for eight spots.

“All of us, our backs are against the wall,” defender Remi Kriz said. “We don’t want our backs to be against the wall, so we’re going to fight and we’re going to be desperate. We want it. That desire is there.”

Grove, a senior, has seen the Terps evolve from a mediocre team at the bottom of the ACC to one of the top teams in the nation. But she said Tuesday that she feels the team got comfortable with its No. 3 ranking and lost some of its edge.

“Every year, except for this year, we’ve always been the underdogs,” Grove said. “We’ve been that team trying to get to the top and right now we’re back at the bottom. We’re that team trying to get to the top again. I think our team performs and our team works together and our team lives and breathes soccer the best when we’re coming from behind, and right now that’s what we’re doing.”

Although playing with their backs against the wall might be how the Terps prefer to play, the Blue Devils won’t make it any easier. Duke goalkeeper Tara Campbell has 10 shutouts and boasts a 0.39 goals-against average. On offense, forward Kelly Cobb has five game-winning goals on the year, tied for first in the ACC.

The Terps have shown up against top competition this year, but their postseason uncertainty heightens their urgency heading into the Duke match. In the latest update to the RPI released yesterday, an important criterion in the NCAA Tournament selection process, the Terps are No. 28. Duke and North Carolina are Nos. 4 and 6, respectively. Wins in either of their final two games would all but solidify the Terps’ third straight tournament appearance.

“Really, from here on out, it’s for real,” Pensky said. “These last two games, as it relates to our ACC Tournament hopes and, therefore, our NCAA Tournament hopes, every game matters. Hopefully, then we’re playing in the ACC Tournament and that matters, and then the NCAA Tournament.”

The players are confident they will be playing into November. Grove said she knows the team has the talent to win the ACC and NCAA tournaments. It just comes down to the play on the field.

“The fire under our butts, I think that’s what desperation is,” Kriz said. “We’re all soccer players. We’re all athletes. We’re at the level right now where we know what we need to do to win. We know how to pass. We know how to shoot. We know the fundamentals. It’s all what’s in our hearts and all what’s in our heads at this point.”

dgallen@umdbk.com