Sept. 2, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Sophomore Mary Casey capped a furious two-minute stretch in the second half for the University of Maryland women's soccer team with an assist and the game-winning goal to propel the Terps to a 2-1 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson Sunday night at Ludwig Field.
"We had a number of kids come up big tonight, and collectively it was a terrific team win," said coach Brian Pensky. "We dug ourselves a hole early on, and for a while there it appeared as if we were headed for another evening like Friday. But our players kept plugging away, and eventually we were rewarded with a couple of goals."
For a while it looked as if the Knights may pull-off the upset when they took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute. Amanda Wheeler lobbed a shot at the Terrapin goal and freshman goalkeeper Yewande Balogun was able to tip the ball up and away from the net, but it hit the crossbar and bounced back into the field of play right to the feet of Emma Howes who put the shot away for the 1-0 lead. The Knights only managed three shots in the match with two coming on the scoring play.
With the 1-0 lead, FDU packed in its defense and tried to hold on, but the 85 minutes proved to be too much time to maintain the advantage.
That 1-0 lead would hold up until the 61st minute. That's when the Terps, who totaled nine corner kicks in the game, converted on a corner kick from the left side to tie the score. Freshman Caitlin McDowell started the play, sending the corner kick high into the box. The ball bounced off of Casey and freshman defender Mallory Baker before senior forward Kelly Rozumalski got a clean header off that beat Knight goalkeeper Rachel Derrico into the left side of the goal.
It would take less than two minutes for Maryland, which was scoreless in its first 170 minutes of the season, to pick up another score to take the lead. Once again the goal came off of a corner kick from McDowell from the left side. This time it was Rozumalski that got a head on the ball, but it popped up in the air and landed at the feet of Casey near the 12-yard mark. The defender from Centreville, Va., one-timed the shot into the right side of the net for her first collegiate goal.
A pair of sophomore midfielders, Maureen Dowling and Amanda Paizs, had outstanding games for the Terps creating scoring opportunities and not allowing the Knight defense to maintain possession.
The Terrapins followed up Friday night's record-setting 55-shot performance with another 24 shots vs. FDU. Rozumalski and McDowell led Maryland with four shots apiece. Derrico finished the game with eight saves for the Knights.
Maryland hits the road for the first time in 2007 next weekend when it travels to Bloomington, Ind., for a pair of games at the Hoosier Classic. First up for the Terps will be No. 14 USC on Friday at 4:30 p.m. The Terrapins will conclude the tournament with an 11 a.m. game vs. Loyola Marymount on Sunday.
"Next weekend brings an outstanding challenge with games against NCAA tournament teams USC and LMU," said Pensky. "We're excited for that."
