At halftime on Sunday, Maryland women’s soccer and No. 22 Wisconsin were still scoreless. So coach Ray Leone kept his locker room speech short, wrapping up in less than two minutes.

His brevity seemed to work. The Terps came out of the intermission strong, outshooting the Badgers 10-6 after halftime and earning a well-fought draw.

In a 3-0 loss to Minnesota on Friday, Maryland entered the break trailing by only a goal, but “we were acting like we were down 10,” Leone said. Two days later, the Terps didn’t blink in the second half, going toe-to-toe with one of their toughest opponents of the season.

“I said, ‘No matter what happens, we’re in this game,'” Leone said. “And they were just really ready to go, and the overtime was even better.”

[Read more: Maryland women’s soccer and No. 22 Wisconsin exchange chances but can’t score in 0-0 draw]

Wisconsin held only a 4-2 shot advantage at the break, but it had seven more corners than Maryland, which was a more accurate indicator of how the first half was played — the Badgers held a majority of the possession and the Terps looked to counter.

“It just took us a while to kinda feel out this team and get a hold of the ball, complete a couple passes and get our own rhythm,” Leone said. “And then we were able to turn it around.”

[Read more: Maryland women’s soccer remains winless on the road with 3-0 loss to Minnesota]

Once Maryland found its rhythm, Wisconsin looked like the underdog struggling to hang on. In just over 10 minutes of play after the break, the Terps earned five corners, compared to none for the Badgers.

The aggressive play of Maryland’s front six appeared to surprise the favored Wisconsin side, and on several occasions, the Terps nearly scored what would have been the game’s only goal.

Maryland’s best chance was a pair of 62nd-minute shots. First, Badgers goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer came out of the goalmouth to make a skidding stop on midfielder Hope Lewandoski. The rebound landed at the feet of Alyssa Poarch, who launched a shot high over the crossbar.

While the Terps never managed to find the back of the net, their showing was still promising, especially after the team’s disappointing effort against Minnesota. Leone said the 1-0 deficit at halftime demoralized his side, and the Golden Gophers added on two preventable goals in the second half.

So Sunday’s draw was a big step forward — and a necessary one. For the Terps to move out of the bottom tier of the Big Ten table, they need to beat favored conference opponents. For Leone, that means getting them to believe they belong.

“We knew they had it in them, but honestly we have not seen it like that from every single player at the same time,” Leone said. “Today it was, every player that went in, every player on the bench, every player that was called upon. Everyone was ready to go.”