Maryland women’s soccer scores late goal, draws with No. 17 Georgetown, 1-1

Down 1-0 in the closing minutes of the match, the Terps’ Alina Stahl knocked a shot from close range into the goal off a feed of Mikayla Dayes, tying the game at 1-1. Stahl’s goal was the final score of the contest, resulting in the 1-1 draw.

“Big time players make big time plays,” said Maryland head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer on Stahl’s late-game heroics. “She’s a big time player for us.”

Maryland women’s soccer continued its streak of 1-1 ties to a fourth consecutive outing, as the Terps drew even against Georgetown Thursday evening, 1-1. The tie puts the Terps at 0-0-4 and the Hoyas at 1-1-3.

The Terps failed to break through Georgetown’s back line in the early stages of the match, as the two teams traded harmless throw-ins for the first 10 minutes.

Maryland’s first real excitement came when midfielder Dayes broke through the defense after a botched Hoyas free kick, but her shot ultimately sailed too high. Dayes’ missed shot left Maryland with a corner kick, but the Terps couldn’t capitalize and the match returned to a defensive battle. 

Dayes’ miss was the only Maryland shot in the first half, as stifling Georgetown defense kept the Maryland offense at arms length.

Maryland’s defense, despite allowing 11 shots in the first half, held even with Georgetown’s. The Terps resisted against a number of Georgetown corner kicks.

Henley Tippins, with four goals in four games to start the season for the Hoyas, broke free in the 26th minute after Sydney Hopkins lost her footing. However, Hopkins recovered to block the Tippins shot from point blank range.

Maryland goalkeeper Madeline Smith held down the fort successfully in the first 45 minutes, accumulating a career-high seven saves through the first half alone.

Maryland played the first half more on their heels than Georgetown, as the Hoyas amassed a 7:1 corner kick advantage in the first half. Despite that, the game entered halftime tied 0-0. 

The Terps came out in the second half with a fire lit under them, as they looked like a completely different team on offense. In the early minutes of the second half, Maryland spent considerably more time on Georgetown’s half of the field than in the entirety of the first half, making a point to shift the pressure onto the Hoyas defense.

The momentum of the game completely shifted 13 minutes into the second half, as Tippins stayed hot and capitalized off of an assist from Maya Fernandez-Powell amidst a Maryland defensive breakdown, putting the Hoyas on top 1-0.

The bulk of the second half saw much of the same sluggishness seen in the first 45 minutes, as neither team managed to get much going offensively. Georgetown continued to beef up their corner kick ratio, holding a 12-2 ratio with 13 minutes remaining, but little came of it.

In the 84th minute, Maryland finally joined Georgetown on the scoreboard when Stahl connected with a shot to the back of the net off a feed from Dayes, tying the game at one apiece. 

With less than two minutes to go, Maryland had a golden opportunity to take its first lead of the game, but the Terps were unable to take advantage as Georgetown goalkeeper Cara Martin leaped high to prevent a Maryland shot, keeping the game tied. 

Neither side scored following Stahl’s goal, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

“[This] makes us want to win more,” said Smith on drawing for the fourth game in a row, this time over the 17th ranked team in the country. “We’re still undefeated, so we take this into next week.”

The Terps’ next chance to find the win column will come against George Mason on Sunday, the second game of their lengthy homestand.