In the 87th minute of Thursday’s contest, Maryland women’s soccer’s Mckinley Heaven received the ball off a poor Indiana pass and sped past the Hoosier backline. She then drove a shot past the diving Dani Jacobson to notch her first career goal and give the Terps their first lead of the match in its waning moments.
“I just saw a sliver of space, so I decided to attack it and then just shot it home,” said Heaven.
In a back and forth affair, the Terps ultimately prevailed in the clutch as they bested
Indiana, 2-1.
The match began with Maryland donning all-black kits under the evening sky. Tahirah Turnage-Morales made an early crucial stop to quickly bring possession to Maryland. Kelsey Smith then drove into the box and took a shot that deflected away for a promising first possession. Another shot from Lisa McIntyre sailed just high moments later.
Possession then began to swing back and forth as a left footed shot from Natasha Kim was stymied by the gloves of Faith Luckey.
After 25 minutes, the match remained a stalemate, with each team having logged three shots apiece. Both teams exhibited premier passing, but failed to translate into solid chances on goal.
In the 29th minute, play was temporarily halted as Ludwig fell into total darkness after multiple lighting malfunctions. The issues were solved as play resumed minutes later.
Tensions began to boil over on Maryland’s offense in the 40th minute as Ava Morales launched a shot from far beyond the 18-yard box that sailed well above the crossbar. Another deep shot from Ellie Egeland in the 43rd minute curled hard right directly to the hands of Dani Jacobson.
As the half concluded, the score remained 0-0. The majority of play took place at midfield as the Terps failed to make inroads despite maintaining 65% possession in the half.
As the second half began, the Terps came out swinging. A shot in the 49th minute from Delaney Demartino knuckled just left of the goal.
But the defensive standoff had to come to an end. Grace Hamm drew first blood in the 51st minute as her high lofted shot redirected into the goal as Luckey slipped. The miscue marked the first goal of the match as the Terps went down, 1-0.
Maryland attempted an equalizer, but as Ava Morales drove in the box, she was swiftly tripped up by multiple Indiana defenders. After extensive review, it was deemed to be a clean play and no penalty kick was awarded.
But in the 59th minute, the Terps would no longer be denied. Smith drove from deep in the Maryland side, juked multiple defenders, and slid a low-driven shot just inside the right most to erase the Hoosier lead.
The midfield battle then returned and neither team could gain clear control of the match. Captains Morales and Smith were subbed out for Gemma Davitian and Emily Lenhard as fresh legs would be crucial to pull out ahead. Egeland took yet another long shot from the left side that barely missed wide left in the 73rd minute.
The frequent substitutions continued in the 80th minute. Michael Marchiano reintroduced five starters to the match after a shot from Eva Mowery sailed high off a top-tier cross from Davitian.
The clutch goal late in the match from Heaven served as the decider as the Terps took down Indiana, 2-1, in a nighttime thriller.
Three things to know
1. First conference win. After losing to Penn State, the Terps surged back against Indiana to notch their first conference win of the season as well as their fifth win of the season. Maryland hasn’t had a five-win season since 2019.
“I think the thing I feel best about tonight is the win,” said Marchiano. “I hope five turns to 10, turns to 20 whatever the case may be.”
2. First start. In the first start of her young career, Heaven did more than holding her own, notching a first career goal late in the match that ultimately served as the decider.
“Honestly, just an amazing feeling, very surreal,” said Heaven. “I’m just really glad that I could be here for my team when they needed me the most.”
3. First goal. After an almost three-week long drought, Smith’s goal brought life back to Maryland’s offense. The Terps outshot Indiana 15-9 and were able to come through in the clutch for the first time this season in an electric, come-from-behind win.
