For the first 87 minutes of Thursday night’s game, the Terrapin women’s soccer team was able to hang tough with No. 14 Wake Forest.
The Terps trailed the Demon Deacons by one goal at that point and were looking for the equalizer in hopes of escaping Winston-Salem, N.C., for a tie against one of the ACC’s best teams.
But as the Terps (4-4-1, 0-1-0 ACC) pushed forward in search of the tying goal, they left themselves susceptible to a quick counter-attack. With the door left open, Wake Forest (8-1-0, 1-0-0) did just that and closed out the game with a late goal to seal the 2-0 win.
For the majority of the match, the Terps more than held their own against one of the nation’s top teams. Although they were outshot 14-5, the Terps managed six corner kicks and had several quality chances to put the ball in the back of the net.
“Obviously, Wake’s second goal came as we threw numbers forward,” coach Brian Pensky said. “But we were knocking on the door at that time. We were effective attacking them down the flanks and had many quality serves in the box.”
While the offense had chances, the Terps’ defense was solid. They kept in check a Wake Forest offense that had been on fire recently.
The Terps’ defensive unit took a blow when starting goalkeeper Mary Casey went down with a concussion just minutes into the second half. Sophomore Yewande Balogun stepped in for Casey and kept the Terps in the game until Wake Forest’s late goal closed the door on a Terps comeback.
Despite the loss, Pensky was pleased with how his team performed against a team of the Demon Deacons’ caliber.
“I’m extremely proud of our players’ effort and performance,” Pensky said. “We were well-prepared for Wake and put ourselves in a position to get a result.”
It was the first ACC game for the Terps, who travel to Chapel Hill next to take on No. 3 North Carolina on Sunday.
dmorrisondbk@gmail.com
