After nearly 40 minutes being tied with Boston College, forward Sabrina Rhodes scored to put Maryland field hockey team its first lead of the game late in the second half.
The Maryland bench exploded, hoping the goal would push them to victory, but just two minutes later the Eagles found the back of the net, robbing the Terps of momentum and bringing the contest back to a deadlock.
With two minutes left, Madison Maguire scored her second goal of the game to put the Terps ahead again. This time, the No. 4 Terps held on for a 3-2 win over No. 13 Boston College in the Big Ten/ACC Cup.
“I’ve always said to [my] team: Winners find a way to win,” coach Missy Meharg said. “You just have to do what you can and stay present and know — always know — that you have the opportunity to get back in the game.”
The Terps said they expected this weekend to offer the stiffest competition yet this season, after opening the year with three wins in California. That proved true as the Eagles pushed them nearly to the final whistle.
“After they scored [the first goal], we kind of realized that we’re not playing some teams that are out in the west,” Maguire said. “We obviously are playing a top-15 team so we need to pick it up.”
The matchup was a tight defensive battle from the opening minutes and remained that way until the end, with frequent changes of possessions leaving both teams scrambling to get back into position.
The Terps forced a lot of turnovers but struggled to take advantage of their opportunities on offense until the final minutes.
With the game tied 1-1, Rhodes hit her stick against the ground in frustration after the Terps failed to capitalize on its fourth penalty corner in the second half.
“They kept coming back,” Maguire said. “They were on our heels and everything, and we just kept having to keep going and pushing.”
Towards the end of the first period, it appeared Maryland had scored its second goal of the game, but officials waved it off, and the call stood after a video review.
The Terps failed to score on any of their six penalty corners — which were their main source of offense during their first three games — but improved offensively in the last 10 minutes and ended with an 11-10 advantage in shots.
Meharg said the team reshaped the backfield in the second half to put more pressure on the Eagles defense and eventually score the two late goals.
“It definitely was a little frustrating,” Rhodes said “We were a little frantic. We weren’t connecting very well — especially in the first half — but we finished when we needed to.”
