Women's Soccer Suffers OT Loss to Terps

Sunday, October 18

College Park, MD

NC State

7-7-1, 2-5-0ACC

Maryland

11-2-2, 3-2-2ACC

OT 2

NC State

Maryland

10/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Playing its fourth consecutive game against a team ranked in the top-10 nationally, NC State couldn’t hold a two-goal halftime lead and wound up falling 3-2 in overtime at No. 10 Maryland in an Atlantic Coast Conference women’s soccer match Sunday afternoon at Ludwig Field.

NC State (7-7-1, 2-5 ACC) put itself in a great position to post its second upset win over a nationally ranked club this season after scoring two first-half goals. However, Maryland (11-2-2, 3-2-2 ACC) scored twice in the final nine minutes of the second half and wound up winning on an NC State own goal just over five minutes into overtime.

“This wound up being a tough lesson for our team to learn today,” head coach Steve Springthorpe said. “When you have a lead like we did today and you’re on the road against a good team, you must find away to get the win in a game like this.

“The effort was there today. We just didn’t do what we needed to do in those crucial moments at the end of the game.”

It was all good for the Wolfpack in the first half, scoring a pair of goals in a 10-minute stretch that gave the visitors a 2-0 lead by intermission.

Senior Katie Ruiz assisted on both goals. The first tally occurred off a Ruiz corner that was sent deep to the left corner of the Maryland box. Classmate Meredith Parrilla got on the end of the cross and buried her header into the upper right corner for her first goal of the season at 25:06.

Minutes later, this time off a free kick, Ruiz, like she has done so many times throughout her career, put a perfect ball towards net that freshman Kara Blosser ran onto and headed home her team-topping ninth marker of the year at 34:45.

Wolfpack keeper Kim Kern kept the Terrapins off the scoreboard for the first 80 minutes, making 10 saves in today’s match.

Maryland was aggressive the entire second half after falling behind by two goals. The Terps put 14 shots towards Kern in the second stanza alone as their unbeaten home record in 2009 appeared to be in serious jeopardy.

With NC State doing its best to hang on and use its strong back line of defense, Maryland finally pushed a goal across when Ashley Grove found a gap within a crowded goal mouth and pushed a shot past a diving Kern to cut the deficit in half with less than 10 minutes left in regulation.

The equalizer came one second into the 88th minute when Molly Dreska’s header found the back of the net off a pass from Olivia Wagner.

Once into the extra session, Maryland had all the momentum in its favor. After a corner kick and two shots, the home team got the winner in an unlikely fashion.

A free kick, after an NC State foul near midfield, found the head of a Wolfpack defender around the 18-yard box and the ricochet went past a sprawling Kern to end the game.

Maryland keeper Mary Casey made one save in 95:21 of work. The Terrapins held a 23-7 shot advantage and a 7-2 lead in corner kicks.

NC State visits Miami on Thursday night for a crucial ACC match in Coral Gables, Fla. Both teams are tied for seventh in the league standings. The top-eight clubs will appear in the ACC Tournament the first week in November at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.

Goals by period    1    2    OT    Tot
NC State        2    0    0    2
Maryland        0    2    1    3
 
SCORING SUMMARY:
1    25:06    ST    Meredith Parrilla (1) (Katie Ruiz)
2    34:45    ST    Kara Blosser (9) (Katie Ruiz)
3    80:44    MD    Ashley Grove (5) (Jasmyne Spencer; Caitlin Mcdowell)
4    87:01    MD    Molly Dreska (5) (Olivia Wagner)
5    95:21    MD    OWN GOAL (unassisted)

Shots: NC State 7, Maryland 23
Saves: NC State 10 (Kim Kern 10), Maryland 1 (Mary Casey 1)