After a difficult trip to the west coast when they failed to score in two games, the Maryland women's soccer team came back east for their third consecutive road game taking on ACC foe Clemson. The twenty-first ranked Terrapins ended the two game skid coming away with their first ACC win of the season defeating the Tigers 2-1 in overtime.
Clemson controlled the first few minutes of play but were not able to penetrate a well formed Maryland defense. The Terps went on the attacking early with Lauren Berman making room for herself from about 25 yards for an easily saved shot and Hayley Brock getting her first opportunity in the eighth minute. A quick counter after Brock's shot gave the Tigers a scoring opportunity but Rachelle Beanlands was up to the task deflecting a shot wide and the game remained scoreless. A Clemson corner kick in the twenty-fifth minute provided another scoring chance but Beanlands again controlled the shot through traffic from thirty yards. Things changed for Maryland in the thirty-fifth minute courtesy of senior goal scoring powerhouse Hayley Brock. She stole a pass at midfield and used her speed to get behind the Clemson defense drive the ball into the lower left corner of the goal from about twelve yards. The score was the Terrapins' first of the road trip and earned Brock a few minutes of rest on the bench. Maryland maintained the pressure with three more chances in the closing ten minutes - a long shot by Sarah Molina from the right sideline tipped out by Clemson goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, a relatively easy grounder from Megan Gibbons and a shot off a free kick that nearly resulted in an own goal. Tigers were within a goal at the break.
An inadvertent handball called on Terrapin defender Shade Pratt led to a penalty kick for the Tigers. Beanlands guessed right but was a tick behind. As is often the case, the penalty kick goal, coming in the fifty-first minute, seemed to energize the Tigers as they controlled the play for the next twenty minutes or so keeping possession and often in the Terps's third. However, excepting a floating chip into the box that Beanlands wisely picked off in the sixty-sixth minute, the Terrapin defense was strong. On the counter attack, an outstanding play by Amanda Gerlitz when she was triple teamed along the back line gave the Terps a corner kick just a minute later. Ashley Spivey retrieved the corner as it floated out of the box but Brock couldn't quite get enough steam on the header attempt on Spivey's cross and Clemson goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan easily managed the save. The Terps faced real danger in the seventy-seventh and eighty-fifth minutes. The first followed a long goal kick that the Tigers controlled behind Maryland's defense but Beanlands came up with a huge save and Shannon Collins safely cleared the deflection. The latter came on a Tigers run out after the Terps failed to control a ball near midfield. Perhaps remembering Beanlands' save, Clemson's attacker took one dribble too many and created a difficult angle for her shot that ricocheted off the near post. The score remained tied at one all at the end of regulation and the Terps would face their first overtime of the season.
Just under five minutes into the extra period, the Terps would notch the game winner and again, Brock was in the middle of the action. Megan Gibbons won a difficult ball in the Maryland third and pushed a long pass ahead along the right sideling. Using her speed and strength to control the ball the senior forward got free behind Clemson's defense and crossed a pass through a spread out Tigers defense to Cory Ryan ten yards out from the near post. As the defense focused on Ryan, she quickly touched a pass to a wide open Ashley Spivey whose crossing shot netted the game winner. The Terps now stand at 1-0 in ACC play and will have a week off before returning to action at Ludwig Field where they will take on the Virginia Tech Hokies. Kickoff on September 19th is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.