After suffering its first loss of the season on Friday to No. 2 Northwestern, Maryland field hockey shifted its focus to No. 13 Indiana on Sunday.  

The Terps have historically dominated the Hoosiers, with their lone loss to them coming last season. Sunday’s game followed a similar trend. 

The heavily favored Terps struggled to pull away, but eventually broke through.  minute. Josie Hollamon found Babs Van Hest in the 40th minute to score the game’s lone goal and give Maryland the 1-0 win at Deborah Tobias Field. 

The game-winning goal tied Van Hest with Francisca Eschoyez for the team lead with nine goals. 

In a last-ditch attempt to tie the game, the Hoosiers pulled goalie Sadie Canelli with five minutes left, hoping to find a goal. 

The game ended before they found their equalizer, pushing the Hoosiers to a record 9-6 and their conference record to 4-3. 

But during the first half, Indiana looked like it had the advantage. The Hoosiers outshot the Terps eight to five and looked like they would eventually break through. 

The Terps’ defense did much of the work for Maryland, and in the second half they let Indiana take only one shot. 

It took the Terps 10 minutes to take their first shot. Despite dominating possession, they also struggled to even enter their offensive circle. 

Playing with a focus on defense, the Hoosiers blocked the Terps’ passing lanes, isolating them and forcing turnovers. 

Those turnovers would be a bane for Maryland, as they kept leaving the ball too far away, allowing Indiana to take over possession time and time again. 

“They also marked Josie Holloman, our central defender, out of the game, which caused for us to really rethink things and figure out how to make sure that we put pressure on the backs, coach Missy Meharg said.  We put high pressure on the backs in the third and fourth, and that put us in control of the game.” 

On the offensive end, though, the Hoosiers struggled to maintain possession, often sending passes that went haywire. 

With most of their team in the defensive half, Indiana appeared to play with an emphasis on not getting scored on rather than posing a significant threat to Maryland’s defense. 

The second quarter, however, starkly contrasted with their earlier offensive struggles. Indiana managed three penalty corners, but Maryland goalkeeper Alyssa Klebasko made several key saves to keep it off the scoreboard. 

“I think where we struggled was giving up speed coming into our final quarter of the field, but you know Alyssa [Klebasko] is going to make saves,” Meharg said. 

Klebasko recorded four saves and her ninth shutout of the season. 

Even after an impressive third quarter that produced a goal, Maryland managed zero shots the entire fourth, despite the green-card advantage and the Hoosiers’ lack of a goalie. 

“It’s very clear that they’re number 13 in the nation because they are able to play a lot of different varieties of defense. They’re a very good team,” Meharg said. 

Maryland closes out the regular season against Iowa on Friday.