Maryland women’s soccer drops third straight in 2-1 loss to Illinois

Photo by Rose Fernandes/ Maryland Terrapins. Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics.

Heading into Sunday’s contest, the focus for Maryland women’s soccer was clear: stop Emma Yee.

Illinois was undefeated in games when Lee registered a shot on goal, and both its losses came when Lee was held shotless. The Terps successfully stifled Lee in the first half, but she tied the game on a run in the 46th minute. Then, with 5:17 remaining in the game, the Fighting Illini took the lead.

The Terps were unable to rally to tie the game, resulting in a 2-1 loss to Illinois at Ludwig Field. The loss is just Maryland’s second in College Park.

“I think we didn’t defend well enough today in general, and we didn’t play well enough today to win the game and probably not even to draw,” head coach Michael Marchiano said. “[It’s] disappointing to concede that late, but if we reflect holistically, we probably deserve to concede.”

Maryland’s (6-6, 2-4 Big Ten) offense had struggled entering Sunday’s match, failing to score for nearly two weeks. But against Illinois (10-2-1, 3-2-1 Big Ten), Maryland started fast, scoring in the 10th minute. 

The possession began with an impressive run by forward Kelsey Smith. The redshirt junior sprinted down the left side of the field and dribbled around a defender to get near the goal. Smith then crossed the ball into junior forward Lisa McIntyre, who took the initial shot. 

McIntyre’s first attempt was stopped by Illinois goalkeeper Izzy Lee before being trapped by an Illinois defender. Then, in came senior midfielder Ava Morales as she connected on a shot to the back of the net as the ball bounced around within the penalty box. Morales’ fourth goal of the season tied her with Smith for the team lead. 

Maryland’s early score was a sign of offensive improvement as it marked the quickest score yet in a game this season for the Terps. Their second-earliest score this season came in the 15th minute versus Saint Francis. 

Maryland controlled a majority of the first half possession opportunities with a 58% possession total in the first half — largely due to Illinois’ many sloppy mistakes. The Fighting Illini recorded three fouls and were called offside five times in the first half, along with a yellow card called on redshirt sophomore midfielder Ashley Stellon in the 30th minute.

The mistakes of the Fighting Illini allowed Maryland to produce shots at a steady pace, something the Terps have struggled to do recently. The Terps took five first-half shots, with three reaching the goal. Both were more than Maryland took in total in either of its previous two games. 

A major factor in Maryland’s first-half success was its ability to defend Yee. The Terps limited Yee to three first-half shots with none of them on goal. The Terps showed a variety of looks at Lee, immediately pressing her when she touched the ball and consistently using double teams to guard the sophomore forward.

But Yee came out in the second half and quickly made her presence known. Following an Illinois clear, senior forward Sarah Foley took the ball all the way down into the penalty box before making a perfect cross pass to Yee. The British Columbia native easily shot and scored on the open opportunity, tying the match at 1-1 in the 46th minute. 

“We lost a little bit of control in the second half and some of that was technical, some of that was tactical, and some of that is you’re playing against a good team,” Marchiano said.

In the 64th minute, the Terps lost their season-leading shot taker, Ellie Egeland. The sophomore midfielder went down to the ground in pain with what appeared to be a lower-body injury. Egeland was assisted off the field and was unable to bear any weight on her left leg. 

As the Fighting Illini’s attack continued to pressure the Maryland defense, redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Faith Luckey rose to the challenge, stopping nearly every shot that came her way. Illinois took 12 shots in just the second half, six of which were stopped by Luckey.

Her best save came in the 68th minute as senior defender Alyssa Abramson received a yellow card within the penalty box, setting up for an Illinois penalty shot attempt. Graduate midfielder Sarah Hiestand took the penalty kick, but Luckey dove to her right to make the save. Senior forward Lia Howard immediately shot the rebound back on net, where Luckey made a spectacular diving save. 

“[Luckey] made a lot of good saves and hopefully as we move forward we can protect her a little bit better, but she deserves mention because she had a really good individual performance today,” Marchiano said.

But Illinois got one past Luckey in the 85th minute. With multiple defenders surrounding her, sophomore forward Cayla Jackson ripped a shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. The score proved to be the game-clinching goal.