COLLEGE PARK, MD. -- No. 7 Maryland (7-4, 1-3) battled but ultimately fell to No. 1 Iowa, 2-1 Sunday afternoon. Three goals were scored in a five-minute stretch early in the fourth quarter with Iowa (12-0, 3-0) grabbing the lead, Maryland tying the game, but Iowa ultimately answering with a goal of its own in what became a wild finish in College Park.

The Terrapins controlled much of the possession in the scoreless first half. The Hawkeyes scored the first goal of the game with 12 seconds left in the third quarter.  Leah Zellner got to the goal line and tipped in a pass from Maddy Murphy for the score.
 
The Terps were able to fire back within the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter when Riley scored off a penalty corner, assisted by Maura Verleg and Emma DeBerdine. Just under 2:00 later, Iowa took back the lead for good when Murphy deflected in a long pass from outside the circle.
 
The Terrapins earned three penalty corners in the final 7:00 of the match, but were unable to get the equalizer.

Maryland goalkeeper Noelle Frost made five saves on the day.  
 
Missy Meharg's Take
"A really disappointing outcome. There are some things that we've cleaned, but again, if you're going to turn the ball over in the belly of the field and give it up on the insde, a good team like this is going to make you pay. I also think that Iowa was very,very smart in the first two quarters. They played a late game Friday at Rutgers. They really didn't exert their energy. They played very differently the first two quarters and they pressed it up in the third and fourth. As a coaching staff you know that, we were ready for it. I thought we dominated the game in the first quarter, enough to get some shots in terms of possession. They just fell away and wanted to tick the minutes away and we allowed them to do that.
 
"A lot more lessons. We will continue to take the lessons and continue to build on them. We're getting better and better every day. Thankfully, we have a great, strong schedule. Everybody we're playing is in the top 10. Thankfully, the Big Ten is that level."
 
Corner Defense Stands Strong

• With under 4:00 to play in the second quarter, Maryland's corner defense unit stood strong through a series of four straight Iowa penalty corners to keep the match scoreless.
• Frost made two of her stops in the series.

 
Up Next 

• Maryland will hit the road to take on No. 14 Virginia in Charlottesville Thursday at 4 p.m. before returning home to host James Madison Sunday at 1 p.m.