Women's soccer's Spencer likely out until October

In Brian Pensky's seven seasons as coach of the Terrapins women's soccer team, he has seen injury after injury deal blows to the title aspirations of rival programs while his own Terps squads remained largely injury-free.

All of that changed Sunday night, as a collision with a James Madison player with two seconds remaining in overtime left forward Jasmyne Spencer lying on the ground for several minutes.

Entering what Pensky called the "meat" of a difficult ACC schedule, the No. 3 Terps could be without their fiery senior leader for at least five league games. Spencer likely fractured her ribs slightly, according to Pensky, and the possibility of a concussion has not been ruled out.

"I can't see her returning in time for the first round of ACC play," said Pensky, who indicated that he expects Spencer to return only as soon as the team's Oct. 8 game against Wake Forest.

While the team awaits a second opinion on Spencer's X-rays, James Madison is sending Pensky and his staff video of the play so they can review exactly what happened to Spencer.

STARTING FAST

In six of their eight games this year, the Terps have scored a combined 13 goals in the first half of play.

Their record in those games? 6-0-0. The two games in which they didn't score a first-half goal? 0-0-2.

So as the team moves on from its third straight undefeated nonconference schedule and into league play, the Terps are hoping any early offensive sluggishness won't translate to a number of blank scoreboards in their forthcoming ACC gauntlet.

On Sunday night at James Madison, the Terps generated 10 shots in the first 45 minutes of play but came up empty, allowing the Dukes to keep close the rest of the way.

"We knew that once they got to halftime [at] 0-0, they were going to get reenergized in their locker room and come out in a pretty good frame of mind," Pensky said. "They did just that, they were that. They were a little bit better in the second half."

The lack of goals wasn't due to a lack of chances, however. Spencer and midfielder Olivia Wagner combined to take 13 shots, including four on goal. But James Madison goalkeeper Kate Courter thwarted each chance, recording 10 saves in the game, including four in the first half.

"We had opportunities and unfortunately, we didn't capitalize," Pensky said. "Sometimes in this game, you're playing against the game of soccer. I think the first 30 [minutes] of the half we were good at creating chances. We were playing forward and we were getting behind them."

After the team couldn't get out to an early lead Sunday, Pensky acknowledged the defensive pressure was "a little bit sporadic" for the game, something he said could have been a byproduct of playing relative lightweights American, Cornell and St. Louis in the previous three games.

"At times, we were just a little casual in our pressure, and we're better when we pressure," Pensky said. "I think as the game went on, especially as we got to the end of regulation and through overtime, our pressure and our urgency defensively picked up a little bit, and I think that helped us a lot."

With the start of ACC play approaching, the Terps must either overcome slow starts or figure out how to score on tough defenses. The team's first three ACC opponents, No. 7 Virginia, No. 25 Virginia Tech and No. 15 Boston College, have given up only six first-half goals in a combined 22 games.

dgallen@umdbk.com