Women's soccer opens ACC play absent star

Coach Brian Pensky won't be hard-pressed to find a replacement on paper for injured forward Jasmyne Spencer when the Terrapins women's soccer team opens ACC play against No. 14 Virginia tonight.

The depth Pensky has built in his time as coach, after all, offers a wealth of options to choose from. But that doesn't mean the team won't miss more than the starter's one goal and three assists this year.

"We're going to miss Jasmyne's personality," forward Ashley Grove said. "She's always a gritty, go-hard, go-at-‘em [player], and as you can see by her getting hurt, it doesn't matter who's in her way. She's little, she's fast, she's going to go."

In senior Sade Ayinde, sophomore Hayley Brock and freshman Cory Ryan, the No. 6 Terps have a myriad of talents at their disposal for their high-stakes matchup with Virginia. But playing without Spencer, who helped the Terps (6-0-2) to an undefeated record during a nonconference slate that featured then-No. 22 Minnesota and then-No. 2 Stanford, will be a different story in ACC play and, for tonight at least, at Virginia's Klockner Stadium.

"Klockner Stadium is always a pretty tough place to go into," midfielder Olivia Wagner said. "They have a pretty good fan base and, yeah, it is our first ACC game so I think we're all getting fired up for it. I think it's a great place to go and play the first ACC game because you know there's going to be a good atmosphere, you know they're going to bring you their best game."

Both teams come into tonight's game following unsatisfactory weekends. Virginia (3-1-1) suffered its first loss of the season on Sunday, a 3-2 loss to Penn State at home, while the Terps were mired in a 0-0 tie with James Madison 40 miles away.

"There's going to be ruckus," Pensky said. "The fans usually think they should get every call in the book and it's usually a lot of screaming and yelling from everyone. Our challenge is to remain emotionally calm and level, but be very competitive at the same time."

Grove called the tie against James Madison the Terps' most disappointing result of the season so far. In failing to capitalize on a number of goal-scoring opportunities, the Terps were forced into overtime, where they then lost Spencer to both a ribs and head injury in the closing seconds.

"The whole mindset this year is short memory," Grove said. "We have a short memory whether it's a great game, we have a short memory whether it's a bad game. It's all about the next game ahead of you."

That next game could very well set the tone for the Terps' entire ACC campaign. Seven ACC teams are in the NSCAA top-25 poll with an eighth receiving votes, making for what should be highly contested games all season long.

"We've got to be prepared for all these games," Pensky said. "They're all going to be emotional games. There are going to be calls that go our way, calls that don't go our way, goals that are scored on us, goals that we score. There are going to be ebbs and flows everywhere and we've got to be able to deal with all those adversities no matter where we play or who we play against."

Tonight, it's a Virginia team that boasts forward Caroline Miller, who is tied for second in the ACC with seven goals, and forwards Gloria Douglas and Erica Hollenberg, who rank second in the conference with five assists this year.

And while the Terps will be missing a key piece in both their emotional and physical puzzles, Pensky is confident his team can elevate its level given the circumstances.

"It's a big rivalry between Maryland and Virginia in general and certainly between our soccer programs," he said. "We have a lot of respect for each other and we've had some very emotional games with them the last three years. Both teams are going to be pretty desperate Thursday night."

dgallen@umdbk.com