Georgetown stuns top-seeded women's soccer in penalty kicks

Long after the rest of the Terrapin women's soccer team had gone to the locker room, Caitlin McDowell lingered on the team's bench at Ludwig Field.

The senior co-captain sat next to coach Brian Pensky, her head in her hands, losing her struggle to hold back tears. She had often said that she never wanted her senior season to end.

The sun set rapidly, casting a shadow over the bench area where McDowell and Pensky sat. Nearly half an hour before, the Terps' season had faded to black.

Less than a week after receiving a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, the Terps were shocked by unseeded Georgetown (14-6-2) in penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw through regulation — the same fate they had suffered against Wake Forest in the ACC Championship on Nov. 7.

"The strength in our team is always in our team," Pensky said. "It's kind of ironic that today's elimination and last weekend's elimination are both on PKs, where it's all about individuals."

The Terps (18-2-3) suffered a setback before the game even began: At least six players entered the second-round match battling a stomach illness they came down with yesterday.

So while many of the Terps, McDowell included, were able to play through their sickness, the team on the field was hardly representative of the team that had won a program-record 18 games this season.

"I think it was a factor," Pensky said of the illness, which he also said affected midfielders Lydia Hastings and Megan Gibbons. "Caitlin and Mallory [Baker] weren't themselves; [Domenica Hodak] wasn't herself; Molly [Dreska] wasn't herself. So it mattered, but not for half a second do I want to take anything away from Georgetown."

It was clear early that yesterday's game was going to be a physical one. The teams combined for 12 fouls in a scoreless first half, and neither team had any particularly dangerous opportunities.

Just six minutes into the second half, however, that all changed. After a corner kick, Hoya defender Christina O'Tousa ripped a shot off the Terp crossbar. The ball bounced around the crowd of players in the penalty box for a few seconds until Camille Trujillo directed the ball on net with her chest. It found its way past goalkeeper Yewande Balogun and Hodak before glancing off the post and over the endline.

The Terps pressed for the equalizer and found it when reserve forward Sade Ayinde put a long shot past charging Hoya goalkeeper Jackie Desjardin within a minute of being substituted into the game.

Through the rest of regulation and overtime, the two teams traded opportunities. A shot by Georgetown midfielder Samantha Baker found the crossbar not long after Ayinde's tally. Balogun, who made five saves in the second half, tipped another opportunity over the crossbar.

The Terps' best opportunity came midway through the first overtime period, when midfielder Olivia Wagner headed a cross from forward Jasmyne Spencer into the middle of the penalty box, where a streaking Dreska connected with it. But her shot sailed high.

"While we absorbed some pressure, it's not like they had a tremendous number of real clean looks," Pensky said, "and neither did we."

As the missed opportunities piled up, the game moved closer and closer to penalties. Pensky had prepped his Terps for such a situation, setting an order for a possible shootout.

But Desjardin saved the Terps' first two attempts, and when forward Ashley Grove's fifth-round attempt rattled off the right post to end the shootout with a 3-2 Hoyas advantage, the Terps' season was over.

A group of players wept at midfield. Others walked to the bench, looking both shocked and angry. Reserve forward Christina Sanchez-Quintinar met Balogun with a hug halfway between the goal and the bench.

When Pensky broke the team's final post-game huddle of the season, many Terps appeared lost. Most left immediately for the locker room. Some, including seniors Colleen Deegan and Dreska, remained, tearful and stunned.

"Right now, our seniors ... 50 percent of them is absolutely in shock, and 50 percent of them is destroyed," Pensky said.

"I'm just going to miss being around the girls. Just being part of this has been the best four years ever," Deegan said. "It just sucks to have it end in a shootout."

Even as her teammates and fellow seniors left, McDowell couldn't seem to pull herself away from the field where she had helped transform a program mired in mediocrity into one many thought could contend for a national title.

Her time in a Terp uniform had ended in shocking fashion. But as she rose and crossed Ludwig Field for the last time, McDowell held her head high.

cwalsh@umdbk.com