Women's soccer wins but falls short of ACC tourney

Going through the postgame handshake last night, the Terrapin women's soccer team was all smiles. Minutes later, those smiles turned into frowns.

The mixed emotions were indicative of how the Terps felt following their 1-0 win against Clemson (5-10-1, 1-7-1 ACC). With what they knew as the final whistle blew, the win had kept their season alive. They had taken care of their business, and they shifted their attention to another ACC foe: the Miami Hurricanes.

The outcome of the Hurricanes game against N.C. State would determine whether the Terps (7-10-1, 3-7-0) would be packing their bags for the ACC tournament next week.

The team huddled around coach Brian Pensky to hear its fate. And the players quickly realized a rare ACC win was all for naught.

"When they circled up, they were looking for the information," Pensky said. "So I told them Miami won. It's an empty feeling right now."

Despite the Terps defeating the Tigers on Senior Night, because of the Hurricanes' 1-0 win against the Wolfpack, the Terps won't be one of the eight teams vying for the ACC championship next week. The Hurricanes officially eliminated the Terps from the tournament when their score became final with more than 10 minutes remaining in the Terps' game.

Hearing the bad news from Pensky made celebrating the season finale win a bit more difficult, especially for the six seniors who ended their Terp careers with a win.

"It's bittersweet, because we really deserved to be one of those top eight," senior midfielder Nataly Arias said of being left out of the ACC tournament for the third consecutive year. "But it's still nice that we got a good win, played so well and ended the season on a good note."

Needing a win against the Tigers, the Terps came out determined to make sure they wouldn't hand over the conference tournament berth to the Hurricanes without a fight.

After a couple shots that barely tested Tiger goalkeeper Paula Pritzen, the Terps finally got on the board when it appeared least likely.

Possessing the ball at midfield after the Tigers had pushed the ball deep in the Terp third of the field, midfielder Caitlin McDowell lofted a ball over the defensive line. Forward Lydia Hastings outran the nearest defender and chipped a shot from nearly 35 yards out. Caught out of position, Pritzen could only watch as the ball sailed slowly into the goal.

With the Tigers offering very little offensive pressure, the Terps seemed comfortable with their one-goal lead. But instead of pulling it back offensively and packing in the defense, the Terps did the exact opposite.

By keeping up the pressure and speed of play, Pensky was hoping the Terps could put in a second goal that would seal up the win. Although they were unsuccessful in doing that, he was happy they were able to keep the Tiger offense at bay.

"I felt like they had no rhythm at all, and they weren't creating any chances for themselves," Pensky said of the Tiger offense that only managed four shots to the Terps' 27. "I was afraid if we took the foot off the pedal, we would let them get into rhythm. I wasn't comfortable with us keeping the ball and killing the game. I wanted to keep going and attacking."

The Terps kept firing away offensively and had several chances in the second half to get that elusive second goal.

Heavy doses of blocked shots, good saves and bad luck kept the Terps from blowing the game wide open.

Perhaps their best chance to pad the lead was denied when Hastings' bid for her second goal was turned away by the right post. After hitting the post, the shot stayed in bounds and sat just yards away from an empty goal, but Pritzen was able to jump on the loose ball before another Terp could put it away.

The missed scoring opportunities in the second half were fitting for the Terps, considering the numerous close calls they've had in games this season.

They've suffered eight one-goal losses this season, with five of those coming in conference play. With a couple luckier breaks here or there throughout the season, the Terps could have controlled their own destiny instead of having their postseason hopes riding on last night's game.

"Some of those games just didn't fall our way," Arias said. "We just didn't have luck on our side for some of those. If you look back at some of those games that went into double overtime or ended in one-goal losses, if we had points in each of those, we'd be in good shape. So, it's hard to look at."

Pensky, in an attempt to lighten the mood around his team in a very serious final week of the season, found a silver lining of humor in the team's several close games this season.

"It's all I've thought about the past two weeks," Pensky said. "We've kind of joked about how hard it is to lose so many games by one goal. You figure you're either going to tie a couple of those or lose a couple by two or three goals."

The Hurricanes (10-6-3, 3-4-2) were in a similar situation as the Terps with the season winding down. They used several big wins in their last four games to put themselves in the driver's seat for a trip to the ACC tournament.

"Credit to Miami because their backs were against the wall, too," Pensky said. "Ten days ago, they had one point, and they've gotten three wins and a tie since then against some good teams in the league. They deserve to go."

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