COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The fourth-ranked Maryland field hockey team battled back twice and ultimately won a shootout to beat No. 6 Virginia, 3-2, in a thrilling victory Friday night.
Senior goalkeeper
Noelle Frost tied her career-high six saves, two in overtime, and stopped three of Virginia's six shootout attempts to help the Terrapins (5-1) to their first win over a top-10 opponent this season.
After a scoreless first half, both teams picked up the intensity on the offensive end, combining for three goals in the third quarter and turning up the pressure throughout.
"Virginia is always athletic and having come off oflast weekend going against two other ACC teams, I knew we were going to have to be as athletic, and as lucky, I have to say," head coach
Missy Meharg said. "I think for Maryland to come back from behind twice just showed tremendous amount of grit. Virginia's goalie was outstanding. I think we had 25 shots and she did a really great job for them. I couldn't be more proud of our women and the way that we rotated and the way they serviced each other. Tremendous outcome this early. Now, we've experienced every facet of the game and we're still getting used to the four quarters, but now to go into overtime and then sudden death strokes, I mean, you couldn't ask for more and boy,
Noelle Frost is the player of the game."
Virginia (4-1) got on the board first when Makayla Gallen corralled a ball off a saved shot on a penalty corner and sent it in just 2:40 into the second half.
Less than six minutes later, Maryland tied it up when junior
Kyler Greenwalt took a took a pass from senior Kelee Lepage and flipped it in from just in front of the Virginia keeper for the tying score.
The Cavaliers took the lead once again when Rachel Robinson scored off a penalty corner with 3:35 left in the third quarter.
Maryland got its second equalizer of the game when freshman
Emma DeBerdine brought the ball into the circle and sent it in behind the goalie from 10 yards out with 11:26 left in regulation.
Maryland and Virginia played 20 minutes of 7-vs.7 overtime. The Terrapins took 11 shots in the extra two periods.
Frost stopped the Cavaliers' second shootout attempt, taken by Makayla Gallen. Sophomore
Bibi Donraadt made the Terrapins' first attempt and was followed by senior
Madison Maguire who made her attempt as well. Freshman
Nathalie Fiechter's attempt was saved, then sophomore
Riley Donnelly made her attempt to tie the shootout at three.
Frost stopped the fifth Cavalier, Colleen Norair, then Maryland freshman
Belle Bressler's attempt was stopped as well to keep the shootout tied.
Donraadt stepped back to the line, pulled the goalkeeper left, then pulled to her right and shot from behindher back into the cage for the go-ahead score. Then, Frost took on Virginia's Erin Shanahan. Frost poked the ball from Shanahan and slid to her right to knock it out of bounds for the win.
The Terrapins took 25 shots to Virginia's 15 and had nine penalty corners to five for the Cavaliers.
Maryland is hosting No. 6 Virginia (4-1), James Madison (2-3), American (2-3) and Towson over the weekend in the 23
rd annual Terrapin Invitational in College Park.
Next, the Terrapins will play James Madison Sunday at noon at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. Towson will take on American at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free for both games. Parking will be open in lot 11b all day Sunday.
Both games Sunday will be streamed on
BTN Plus. Fans around the world can watch with their BTN Plus subscriptions.
Live stats will also be available.
For the latest information, follow the Terrapins on Twitter at
@terpsfh and on Instagram at
@terpsfh.
DEFLECTIONS… Friday night's shootout marked the Terps' first shootout since a 2-1 victory over UMass in the NCAA First Round in College Park on Nov. 13, 2016…Maryland is 8-2 all-time in shootout games… The Terps are 127-57 all-time against top 10 teams…The Terrapins own the all-time series over Virginia, 42-21-2 and have five of the last six matchups…head coach
Missy Meharg is 570-139-9 (.800) in her 32 years as head coach.
Head Coach Missy Meharg
On tonight's game:
"I think it's just phenomenal. Virginia is always athletic and having come off last weekend going against two other ACC teams, I knew we were going to have to be as athletic, and as lucky I have to say. I think for Maryland to come back from behind twice just showed tremendous amount of grit. Virginia's goalie was outstanding. I think we had 25 shots and she did a really great job for them. I couldn't be more proud of our women and the way that we rotated and the way they serviced each other. Tremendous outcome this early. Now, we've experienced every facet of the game and we're still getting used to the four quarters, but now to go into overtime and then sudden death strokes, I mean, you couldn't ask for more and boy, Noelle Frost is the player of the game."
On senior goalkeeper Noelle Frost:
"Oh, she's outstanding. And you know, every day in practice, we do shootouts and she's fortunate enough to go against her own teammates. You know, Katie Bam goes against her every single day she, Skye and Christina. We're really fortunate to have that. She's one of the best shootout players in the world, and has done it at the highest level. Before she went in, Katie went up there and just said 'Look, you work with me every single day, you got this.' And I think she did a tremendous job. She was ready."
On the difference in defense in the first half and the second half:
"Well, you know defensive penalty corners are a chess game and we decided on one and we decided wrong. They picked up on something of a theme, even though we looked at different sets and they just drilled it straight down that that right side from the right line. And you know, Bo would have to make a post save, and she didn't and really, you shouldn't ask a post player to do that. We did gamble, and you have to gamble. They have a lot of weapons, a lot of different weapons."
On where this game ranks in her career:
"Outstanding, outstanding, I have to say it's one of the very best. To get to win in a shootout like that in a sudden death shootout is right there and it's University of Virginia. It feels really good for my staff. Of course, you know that Katie Bam played her whole career in the ACC. But we love the Big Ten fortunately, they are the same level. So, it feels the same way."
Junior Midfielder Brooke DeBerdine
On how she ranks this game out of her collegiate field hockey career:
"It was a pretty great game. The other team was a great opponent early on in the season, which is great for our younger players to get that kind of experience. We love that, we love that competition. Honestly, we just had a lot of fun, it was some of the greatest hockey that we played all season thus far. So it was really great to get that exposure early on in the season so we are just going to keep building on that."
On the shot that had the opportunity to win the game:
"Lauren is a great goalie, I think I just knew she comes out. I play with her on the Under-21 team and I tried to pull right and go around her and she kind of just came out. It was a good save, she did what she had to do."
On the atmosphere of tonight's game:
"We love Maryland. We love the fans that come out from all over. It's just so fun. We appreciate them so much, and we get our energy from them and from each other, obviously. It's awesome, it had a postseason feel, which is great for us. We have a lot of newcomers coming in and we just like to get that excitement, get the nerves out and get the confidence that we can do this throughout the season and play like that."
Senior Goalkeeper Noelle Frost
On how she ranks this game out of her collegiate field hockey career:
"I think this was the game we needed to change our tempo and make it even more intense and more exciting for the future to come. We have been doing pretty good but I think after this game we really saw our potential and what we can do together. I think for the season this was the moment we needed just to propel ourselves further."
On she stays focused on a game like this:
"It's something we talk about with our team, you don't do it for yourself you do it for your team. Every time Brooke had the shot, I was like I'm going to give all my energy to Brooke right now, she is going to score. Just knowing when Bibi (Donraadt) put that goal in, she did her job now I have to do my job for her because she worked her tail off like I work mine off. It's working for each other."
On her mindset after Bibi Donraadt scored the go-ahead goal:
"I am going to save this ball. We are not doing this again, it's done. It's just mental, mind over matter. I don't care what's happening, I'm saving this ball."
On if she has the mindset of putting everything on the line for her team:
"Yes, it's I'm going to save this ball and I am going to do it in a way that shows the other team don't mess with my team."
-TERPS-
