The Maryland field hockey team’s season was going to end in 1 minute and 5 seconds.
The Terps had trailed UMass for almost 60 minutes in their first-round NCAA tournament game Saturday. They looked out of sorts for much of the game, struggling to connect passes in every area of the field and being kept off the scoreboard.
Now, with 65 seconds left in the game, the Terps trailed, 1-0. Maryland had spent five minutes pressing as hard as it could with an empty net, and it finally found the equalizer it was so desperately searching for.
Defender Grace Balsdon scored a penalty stroke to keep the team’s season alive. The goal bought the Terps 30 more minutes of overtime, and though neither squad scored during that time, Maryland won the penalty shootout, 3-0, to earn a spot in the second round.
“It definitely was a day of survival,” coach Missy Meharg said.
UMass took an early lead and nearly carried it to the final whistle against the second-ranked Terps.
That score came on a counterattack, but it was after the Minutewomen dominated the game’s opening stages. After the Terps lost possession during one of their first attacks into UMass territory, the Minutewomen converted on the counter.
A couple of slick passes got the ball to forward Sarah Hawkshaw around midfield in the ninth minute. She maneuvered past the only defender in front of her and chipped the ball over goalkeeper Sarah Bates as she came off her line to try to stop the shot.
“Our defense was horrible. Our one-on-one defense was horrible and we weren’t holding two-on-ones,” Meharg said.
The team was also struggling on the other end of the field. Maryland’s leading scorer, forward Welma Luus, wasn’t available due to a head injury sustained last weekend.
“It took a little adjusting to be without our attacking field general,” Meharg said. “When we came into our sorts, we played very strong attack.”
UMass had the first two shots of the game but were outshot 7-2 the rest of the first half and 15-3 over the rest of regulation. Still, the Terps struggled to find the back of the net.
“We would get onto the goalline and it just wouldn’t go in that goal,” defender Carrie Hanks said. “But we knew that we would just keep pushing and pushing. … We just knew we had to keep putting shots up.”
After a productive halftime discussion, Meharg said, the Terps dominated nearly the entire second half. They earned a corner less than two minutes after the break and had other chances in the run of play they couldn’t convert.
“It definitely tested our belief and our will to just keep fighting,” Hanks said.
The Minutewomen topped the Terps’ six penalty corners and saved the Terps’ seventh with 1:05 left in the game. But they were called for a foul on the play, giving Maryland a penalty stroke and new life.
“I tend not to think about the bigger picture, just focus on the skill that’s about to execute,” Balsdon said. “I knew my process to get the ball in the goal.”
Balsdon stepped up, aimed her shot low and to the left and scored.
“We all knew that’s what was meant to happen,” Hanks said. “We tried not to give up belief or hope throughout the game as the minutes dwindled down.”
Both teams traded great chances in the first overtime but couldn’t put anything away. The second overtime was a bit less action packed as fatigue set in for both sides.
“We were doing all the right things on the pitch,” Balsdon said. “Yeah they didn’t go in, but we believed in what [goalkeeper Sarah Holliday] was going to do and the five girls that were going to step up and take those penalty runs.”
It only took the Terps three penalty shots to end the game. Brooke Adler, Holsboer and Hanks all easily scored their tries. Holliday, who entered for the penalty shootout after not playing all game, didn’t let the Minutewomen score. She saved Hawkshaw’s attempt and sent her team to the second round.
“We have such great belief as Maryland field hockey players,” Balsdon said. “The pride that we have wasn’t going to let us give up, and so we just kept going and kept going.”
