In a weekend filled with excitement for No. 10 Maryland field hockey — the Terps are set to face top-ranked Northwestern on Sunday, a game that could decide the Big Ten regular season title — Friday’s contest against 5-7 Indiana proved disastrous.
However, it didn’t appear that way early on. Just 23 seconds in, Jordyn Holloman sent a pass to Maci Bradford in open space. Bradford capitalized, giving the Terps an early 1-0 lead.
But that was all the offense Maryland had on Friday.
The Hoosiers converted two of their four penalties, while Indiana goalkeeper Sadie Canelli added some late-game heroics in shootout. Maryland ultimately fell to Indiana, 2-1, for its second conference loss of the season.
The Terps’ last four defeats have all been by the same scoreline, highlighting their offensive struggles all season. Maryland has only scored 23 goals in its 13 games — one of the worst marks in the Big Ten. However, Friday was likely the worst offensive performance up to this point.
After the early goal from Bradford, the Terps’ offense shut down for the rest of the game, especially in the second half.
Maryland’s struggles culminated in the fourth quarter, where the Terps did not get a single shot in the entire period.
Canelli had difficulties earlier in the season, especially against ranked teams, but she came up big for the Hoosiers to keep them in the game.
Friday’s seven-save performance was her best output of the Big Ten slate.
Led by Canelli’s strong outing, Indiana evened the score in the fourth quarter and took hold of the game from there.
Maryland’s offense continued its struggles in the overtime periods, not creating many chances other than a late penalty corner opportunity.
“Both teams did a very good job in overtime of packing in the defense,” coach Missy Meharg said. “Nobody really had a clear break.”
Maryland falls to 8-5 on the season, while Indiana collects its first Big Ten win and moves to 6-7.
Throughout the first quarter, the Terps’ offense kept the ball on the Indiana side of the field, not allowing the Hoosiers to take the pressure off their own defense.
With just under 10 minutes to go in the second quarter, Alyssa Klebasko made her first impact of the game. Klebasko saved Indiana’s first shot on goal.
After not keeping its offensive pressure for much of the second quarter, the Terps got a push late in the first half.
Maryland had a chance to double its lead in the final five minutes of the quarter. AJ Eyre and Djuna Eikelboom had opportunities, but Canelli came up with multiple big stops.
After working the ball into the Indiana shooting circle, Annemijn Klijnhout fired a high shot. Canelli was up for the challenge, though, blocking the shot for her fourth save of the game.
The Terps had another chance just minutes later as Maci Bradford found herself on a breakaway, but the Hoosiers’ defense converged quickly.
Indiana’s offense finally helped out its goalkeeper midway through the fourth quarter. Molly Stutte received a pass from Georgia Rottinghaus and fired a shot past Klebasko to even the score. With 8:50 left in the fourth quarter, it was anyone’s game
In the final moments of the fourth quarter, Klebasko made two crucial saves after an Indiana penalty corner to keep the game level and send it to overtime.
With under a minute to go in the first overtime period, the Hoosiers’ offense put pressure on the Terps’ defense. Ericka Morris-Adams came up big for Maryland, locking down multiple Indiana attackers.
It was the Indiana defense that came up big in the second overtime period. Canelli came up with another big save on a shot from Klijnhout, helping the Hoosiers’ defense to survive multiple penalty corners.
In the shootout, Molly Stutte and Elen Nicholls scored for Indiana, while Canelli shut down all four Terps’ attempts.
Maryland will look to bounce back for its matchup against No. 1 Northwestern on Sunday.
