After 60 minutes of regulation, Maryland field hockey was tied 1-1 against Iowa. 

The Terps had struggled to create chances all afternoon but entered the overtime period with new energy and drew a penalty corner.

Bibi Donraadt found Maura Verleg to put the ball into play. Danielle van Rootselaar received the pass from Verleg and fired it into the goal off the goalkeeper’s leg and into the cage to win the game for her team.

The Terps faced their biggest test yet this season and passed with a victory over the Hawkeyes after losing in their last three meetings, winning 2-1 in overtime on the road.

“Being tied is the story of life in our game,” coach Missy Meharg said. “The bottom line is you got to be ready for overtime.”

After over 40 minutes of a scoreless game, Iowa’s Alex Wesneski stole the ball away from Maryland and fired it in to give Iowa a 1-0 lead.

[Riley Donnelly marked return to Maryland field hockey’s starting lineup with a goal]

But the Terps were ready to fight back, drawing three penalty corners in a row to keep the pressure on the Hawkeye defense.

On the third, Bibi Donraadt whipped the ball to Nathalie Fiechter, who steadied it for van Rootselaar’s running shot on goal to tie the game at 1-1.

Iowa held Maryland’s potent offense to just one goal in regulation. The Terps entered the game averaging 4.1 goals per game, the third-best mark in the nation. 

But it didn’t matter in the end. Maryland’s golden goal put an end to an intense Big Ten duel between two teams in the upper echelon of the conference.

The first quarter was ruled by back-and-forth play. Both teams searched for openings but failed to find any; neither the Terps nor the Hawkeyes registered a shot on goal. 

In their first game of the season without standout freshman Hope Rose, the Terps struggled on offense. Rose entered the game leading the team with 10 goals and 7 assists. 

[No. 3 Maryland field hockey eases past Michigan State, 7-2]

Iowa drew a penalty corner with just over a minute left in the opening frame, but the shot went high, ending the first quarter scoreless.

The Terps hoped to end the scoring stalemate in the opening minutes of the second quarter. They forced the Hawkeyes to focus on defensive play and kept better control of the ball.

But even with three penalty corners, two of them coming from veteran midfielder Emma DeBerdine, Maryland couldn’t score.

van Rootselaar notched the first shot on goal of the game, but quick work from Hawkeye goalkeeper Grace McGuire kept the matchup scoreless.

“Iowa is a very methodical team,” Meharg said. “They’re gonna play deliberately slow to encourage teams that play really fast, like a Maryland…to fall into traps.”

Iowa was just the second team to hold Maryland scoreless in the first 30 minutes of play. The first was No. 8 Michigan on September 23, where Maryland eventually came out on top, winning 1-0 in overtime. 

Maryland’s typically aggressive attack unit struggled to gain traction against Iowa’s strong defense. The Hawkeyes had shut four different opponents entering Friday’s bout and allowed more than one goal just once.

However, it was van Rootselaar’s overtime strike that catapulted the Terps over Iowa, gifting Meharg’s squad its tenth win against a potent Big Ten foe.

“The more you play in over time, the more experience you get, and the better you get,” van Rootselaar said.