Maryland women's soccer drops double overtime heartbreaker 2-1 against Purdue

10-minute overtime periods of soccer can be rather uneventful. If the defenses are tough, and the teams are even, teams may only get a couple looks at goal, or a squad can end the game within the first minute. Sunday's second overtime between Maryland and Purdue, however, was action-packed and ended in devastation for the Terrapins.

Maryland dominated play in the first overtime and continued to do so in the second. Three minutes in, midfielder Madison Turner had the ball at her feet and an empty net in front of her, but fired wide.

Less than a minute later, it looked like forward Gabby Galanti had given the Terps the win when put the ball in the back of the net off a rebound, but she was called offside and the stalemate continued.

During Purdue's first real attack of the second overtime in the 107th minute, Hannah Leinert was brought down in the box, and the referee pointed to the spot.

Purdue senior Makaela Nellams stepped up and scored into the right side of the net, sealing a 2-1 victory for the Boilermakers and eliminating the Terrapins from a chance at the Big Ten Tournament.

It was much of the same for the Terrapins. Head coach Jonathan Morgan said he thought they "played hard and defended well," but it wasn't enough in the end. "It's just been that type of season. We fell a little short."

Once again, Morgan lamented the lack of a complement to Alex Anthony on offense. The team's attacks, as they have for pretty much all of the season, consisted of playing the ball in the general area of Anthony, and hoping she could deal with three defenders, "one in front and two behind, draped all over her."

As usual, she consistently did, giving her teammates some dangerous chances, and scoring the team's lone goal in the 50th minute on a beautiful strike from 25 yards out. Maisie McCune earned the assist, heading the ball from midfield up towards Anthony on the right side of goal. The sophomore sent a one-timer sailing into the left corner of the net, giving Maryland the 1-0 lead with her 10th goal of the season.

Anthony explained that "Maisie played up a great ball, and it snuck by the first centerback," leaving her with just one defender in her vicinity.  "I saw the other centerback coming on my left shoulder, and I got a good hold of the ball, and it went in."

Anthony's counterpart, Purdue's Hannah Leinert, "gave the backline fits," Beanlands said.

It was Leinert who equalized nine minutes after Anthony gave the Terrapins the lead. She received a cross at the top of the box, used a deft backheel to get around her marker, and slotted home from close-range. Leinert began to make her presence known in the second half, and nearly scored in a similar fashion just a couple minutes earlier. Makaela Nellums earned the assist with a cross that was behind Leinert, but that turned out to be beneficial.

Morgan said he thought his team looked "stagnant" for portions of the second half, and that they were "caught napping," enabling Nellums to come forward from her defensive position and get a cross off.

The teams traded chances after the Purdue equalizer, as Leinert and Anthony really started to take over the game. Both goalkeepers came up big, though, making diving saves to deny the menacing attackers. Beanlands made seven saves in the second half, which didn't surprise Anthony.

"That's what we've come to expect from her."

The Terrapins had a great chance to steal a late winner when Anthony made a pass in the 87th that found Lisa Bianchini behind the defense. Bianchini's shot was saved, though, and the game went to overtime.

The Boilermakers continued to struggle to contain Maryland in the first overtime, as the Terrapins dominated possession and had the better looks at goal. Purdue, however, did have a great chance after a failed clearance by the defense led to Leinert being through on goal in the 98th, but her shot rolled wide past the far post. Anthony snuck behind the defense with less than a minute to play, but Purdue's defense recovered very well to block a pair of her shots, and the ensuing corner kick taken as time expired led to nothing.

The fateful second overtime was a roller-coaster, and as Anthony said, "it really hurt, because we thought we had that one," which could be in reference to either Turner or Galanti's chance, or the game itself.

In one of Purdue's rare parlays into Maryland territory, and their first of the second overtime, Leinert tried to make a turn in the box and was brought down by defender Kayla Shea, which the referee saw as a penalty. Nellams converted the spot kick, giving the Boilermakers a 2-1 golden goal victory in the 108th minute.

"I thought we were clearly the better team in both overtimes," Morgan said, who also bemoaned a lack of consistency from the referees.

"The penalty was a disappointing call, because the referee was letting a lot of stuff go. They're grabbing both sides of Anthony's jersey, and that's not worth calling, but Leinert slips and he calls it in a critical time of the game. But, he felt Shea got her, and that's what he saw, and that's what it is."

Beanlands declined to comment on the validity of the penalty call, which was the third penalty surrendered by Maryland in the past three games. She wasn't sure what could be done to correct that trend of penalties, while Morgan simply explained that the team "keeps fouling."

The loss moves the Terrapins to 5-10-1 on the season and 0-7-1 in conference play. They're also officially eliminated from contention for the Big Ten Tournament. Maryland still has three games left in 2015, in which Beanlands says the team will be "playing for themselves." Morgan noted that the team hopes to play the role of spoiler for their remaining opponents, who are all in line to play in the conference tournament.

Maryland's next game is at home Wednesday against Michigan State at 4 PM.