Oct. 3, 2010

Final Stats

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The No. 5/7 University of Maryland women's soccer team fell from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 1-0 loss at Virginia Tech Sunday evening in Blacksburg.

"This is a disappointing loss," said Maryland head coach Brian Pensky. "Virginia Tech is a good team, and this is a difficult place to play. Having said that, we are a better team than what we showed tonight; and in particular, we're better than how we came out at the start of the second half. Tech was more desperate than we were, and they punished us for that lack of desperation. It's my job to make sure we're ready to play, and I didn't do a very good job tonight."

After a scoreless first half that saw the Terps (9-1-1, 1-1-1 ACC) put four of their five shots on goal, the Hokies put the game's lone goal on the board in the 53rd minute. Maryland was pressuring Virginia Tech (7-5-0, 1-2-0 ACC), but the Hokies were able to clear the ball and go on the counter-attack. The result was a goal by VT's Ashley Manning.

The Terps' best chance came in the 34th minute. Senior Caitlin McDowell struck a great ball from 22 yards that Hokie keeper Dayle Colpitts saved, but the rebound came back into the VT box. Junior Lydia Hastings beat her defender to the loose ball and had an open net in front of her, but a Hokie defender slid in at the last minute and blocked Hastings' shot before it crossed the goal line.

Maryland goalkeeper Yewande Balogun finished with three saves, while Colpitts had six stops.

Junior Sade Ayinde led the Maryland offensive attack with three shots. McDowell, juniors Skyy Anderson and Ashley Grove, and sophomore Olivia Wagner each had a pair of shots.

The Terps return to action on Thursday, Oct. 7 when they travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass., to take on No. 1 Boston College at 7 p.m. at the Newton Campus Lacrosse and Soccer Field. The Eagles were also unbeaten heading into today's action, but they also dropped their first match of the season, 3-2 in overtime, at Virginia.

"We'll bounce back," said Pensky. "This team always does. BC has a very talented group, but we'll be ready to play."