As Lein Holsboer received the ball and streaked up field 17 minutes into overtime of the Terrapins field hockey team’s game on Saturday, the midfielder looked around for an outlet pass.
She couldn’t find a teammate given the seven-on-seven overtime rules, so “I just thought ‘I’ll just try to do it myself,’” Holsboer said.
The Netherlands native then plowed by one Iowa player and barreled toward the cage. A Hawkeyes defender got her stick on the ball, but Holsboer managed to flip her shot into the cage to seal the No. 6 Terps’ 2-1 double-overtime victory in Iowa City, Iowa.
In their longest match of the season, the Terps capped an undefeated Big Ten campaign and finished the regular season on a 14-game winning streak.
“We were really fired up after the game when we really thought about that we made it through playing all the Big Ten teams and coming out on top for each one,” defender Carrie Hanks said. “It’s a really great feeling that we’ve been able to grow so much.”
The win didn’t come with the same dominance the Terps have been accustomed to, though.
At the end of regulation, the Hawkeyes (9-9, 2-6 Big Ten) held a 10-7 shooting advantage over the Terps (16-3, 8-0 Big Ten). It was the first time this season coach Missy Meharg’s squad trailed in shooting after 70 minutes.
The Terps defense also allowed its first goal since Oct. 4. The squad’s program-record scoreless streak spanned more than five games and ended at 417 minutes and 49 seconds.
The Hawkeyes forced the unit on its heels in the opening portion of Sunday’s bout with two penalty corners and four shots in the first six minutes. Goalkeeper Sarah Holliday, however, saved all of the attempts.
The Terps had prepared for the speed of Iowa’s attack, but Hanks said they struggled with their footwork on defense early.
“We were just a little over-juiced,” Meharg said. “We needed some time to build into our game.”
While the Terps hadn’t mustered a shot at the midway point of the half, midfielder Anna Dessoye knocked in a score from a scrum in the circle in the 19th minute to give the team the first lead of the contest.
The senior’s connection resulted from the Terps’ strategy to use “two-touch hockey,” Holsboer said. With quick passes, the attack kept the Hawkeyes in constant motion and allowed the Terps space to move around the defenders.
“Every time we had those two-touch passes, I felt like we were owning the game,” Holsboer said. “That was the key to win.”
But Iowa forward/midfielder Mallory Lefkowitz put those winning efforts in jeopardy on one of Iowa’s seven penalty corners. After Holliday (four saves) made the initial block, Lefkowitz converted the rebound for the equalizer in the 53rd minute.
“We just knew that we just had to be really smart on defense,” Hanks said. “Just have really good patience with just keeping our feet moving.”
The defense got a boost in the first extra period — the team’s second overtime contest in the past three games — when the Terps’ offense came alive. Meharg’s group earned five penalty corners in the 15-minute stretch and managed five shots to the Hawkeyes’ one. Still, they couldn’t find they back of the cage.
That changed when Holsboer broke through the Hawkeyes to end the contest in double-overtime and finish the Terps’ regular season on a positive note.
“We stayed calm,” Holsboer said. “We were just all really glad and relieved that it was over.”
