Women's soccer gets final word in 5-1 win vs. La Salle

As Brian Pensky stood on the sideline and looked toward the Terrapins women's soccer team's goal, he was greeted with a drastically different sight of what he was accustomed to at Ludwig Field.

For most of the season, the stands behind goalkeeper Yewande Balogun had remained empty, with fans packing the bleachers on the sidelines.

But Friday night, instead of empty seats, the Terps' coach saw a throng of vocal La Salle fans who had made College Park their destination.

For 90 minutes, the Terps endured taunts and profanities directed at players, coaches, referees and even the announcer. But in the end, a 5-1 victory was enough for the Terps to silence the Explorers faithful.

"It was tough," said Pensky, whose Terps face No. 3 seed Auburn in Stillwater, Okla., on Friday. "Home or on the road, we've never played in a road-game-slash-home-game like this. We told them afterwards, this is great for us to have to deal with this type of adversity."

The noise behind Balogun was a constant until the 22nd minute, when referee Ben Jones made a call that changed not only the complexion of the game, but also turned La Salle's cheers hostile. Dribbling through the Explorers' box, forward Danielle Hubka fell to the ground awkwardly after an apparent trip from behind. The Terps were awarded a penalty kick, which forward Ashley Grove drilled into the bottom right corner of the net.

Four minutes into the second half, it happened again. With the score notched at 1-1 after a first-half Explorers goal, forward Jasmyne Spencer was fouled in the box — or, at least, Jones thought so. The Terps were given another penalty kick, and midfielder Olivia Wagner converted calmly.

As the vitriol from behind Balogun intensified, the Explorers channeled the same ferocity of their fans. The game featured 24 fouls, and the La Salle bench was awarded a yellow card in the 51st minute before being shown a red card in the 54th minute, leading to the ejection of an assistant.

"The thing I'm most proud about is we didn't get caught into it," Pensky said. "It's not like we were ahead 3-0. It's easy to stay chill when you're ahead 3-0, but the game was tied at 1-1 or 0-0 for the first 40 minutes.

"The game is constantly on the line. We're getting pushed and yelled at and cursed at by their fans, but the whole time, I thought our team remained composed. That's the most important thing, because from here on out, we're on the road. Who knows whether or not we'll be in hostile environments like that again, so we've got to prepare to deal with that."

Although the referees appeared to be the primary target of the La Salle fans' ire, Pensky had his own experience as he went out to check on Balogun, who was shaken up late in the game and missed a short spell of play before returning.

"They shared their feelings about our players, as well," Pensky said. "They told me what they thought of me. They were sharing all their feelings."

That remained the case until Hayley Brock took over. The reserve forward sealed the win with a dominant performance in the final seven minutes of play, scoring goals in the 84th and 86th minutes and assisting on Hubka's goal in the 89th. The Terps' five goals — their most since early September — nearly equaled the seven La Salle had given up all season before Friday night.

"Today, we really showed that if we go at them and dribble at them and show them our speed and our intensity, no one can handle us," Brock said.

Even as La Salle's fans continued to express their outrage after the final whistle, at one point prompting stadium personnel to personally escort the match's referees out of Ludwig Field, the Terps had other things to worry about — namely, moving onward to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

"Our confidence is high," Grove said. "We know that wasn't even our best performance. We knew at halftime that we weren't performing our best. We knew at the end we didn't perform at our best at all. And still, to get five goals on the board is great for our confidence."

dgallen@umdbk.com