As both teams looked for a go-ahead score in the 83rd minute, a bouncing cross flew between the legs of Tahirah Turnage-Morales. George Mason’s Milan Jerome-Pierre picked the ball up on the other side, sweeping the ball to the bottom right corner.
After scoring two goals in the first 30 minutes, Maryland let up three over the remainder of the match to fall on the road to George Mason 3-2. The Terps’ early advantage — their defense broke down as the contest went on.
“I thought we did a lot of things well,” Meghan Ryan Nemzer said. “Kudos to them, they had three shots on goal and they put three in the back of the net.”
Maryland (2-2-2) has had great success historically against George Mason (2-2-2), including a shutout with no shots allowed in 2023. That run couldn’t continue on Sunday.
Madison Krakower recorded the first shot of the match in the fourth minute, part of a Terps offense displaying a strong intensity from the opening. Maryland eventually earned a corner in the 11th minute breaking down the Patriots defense.
“We have to be able to compete for 90 minutes,” Nemzer said. “A lot of these games everyone’s up for us, I thought we took our foot off the pedal when it was two nothing.”
Emily Lenhard sprinted, rolling the ball under her foot to position herself looking left. She slowed and gained composure, passing a through ball behind George Mason defenders.
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Staying onside, Taryn Raibon dodged goalkeeper Selamawit Caldarts, chipping it over her legs to score and give the Terps a 1-0 lead.
Most of Maryland’s matches this season have started slow, focusing on possession in the first half. The offense exploded against the Patriots. The Terps notched 10 shots over the opening 45 minutes, earning more in the half alone than they’ve had all season.
Maryland continuously pushed into George Mason’s defensive third, creating five corners before the period ended. The aggressiveness led to a second first-half goal when Katie Coyle saw a chance to double the lead.
Coyle jogged up from the backline, calling for the ball. She took the open space in front, moving farther up the field than she had all season in an unfamiliar spot for the defender.
She reached the top of the box, planting her foot and nailing a hard shot into the bottom left of the cage. The shot slipped past Caldarts’ hands and caught both her and the rest of the George Mason defenders off guard.
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The Patriots answered with a sequence of their own shots late in the 37th minute as a cross into Maryland’s defensive third scrambled George Mason’s offense.
Terps goalkeeper Liz Beardsley slid to the ground working to block the ball, in turn letting the Patriots find space for a shot. Raibon made a goal-line save to send the ball back out, only for the rebound to find its way in the back of the net — a Michi Hooks shot skimmed past Beardsley.
“I think the counter control,” Nemzer said. “The biggest thing is we have to head the ball out of the box, attack the ball.”
George Mason evened the score in a similar way, again off a missed shot as it struck soon into the start of the second half.
Beardsley dove on a shot, blocking the first look from the far right corner of the box. But Kiyomi McCausland, positioned with two defenders on her back, sent the ball back past Beardsley for the second time that night.
The Terps worked to find the go ahead goal, as the Patriots conceded three corners to Maryland just minutes apart, but the Terps still struggled to get past Caldarts. That ultimately proved pivotal late as George Mason’s goal in the final minutes sealed the result.
