Faith Luckey was exhausted in goal. She collected eight saves through the second half as Maryland women’s soccer’s defense was outmatched by Illinois’ aggressive attack.
In a crowded box, Cayla Jackson
accepted a pass from Sydney Stephens in the 85th minute, juked Mia Mitchell to the turf, and unloaded a shot to the far left side of the goal. All Luckey could do was watch as the ball sailed by her outstretched right hand and into the net.
This late score proved the decider as Maryland women’s soccer fell to Illinois, 2-1.
After Senior Day ceremonies wrapped up, action commenced at Ludwig Field as the Fighting Illini opened the match with the ball. An early pass broke through Maryland’s backline in the first minute as a shot from Lia Howard missed just right of the goal.
Illinois continued to shell the Terps as a pair of crosses were cut off by Luckey in the first five minutes.
Maryland’s first opportunity came in the seventh minute as a Kelsey Smith cross missed the mark and sailed cross-pitch. But her next cross proved deadly.
Lisa Mcintyre pounced two minutes later, her shot rebounding off goalkeeper Izzy Lee. The save fell to Ava Morales, who sent the ball past Lee off her right foot to give the Terps an early lead.
With her fourth goal of the season secured, Morales tied Smith as Maryland’s co-leaders in goals scored this season.
Illinois continued to press, but missed passes, wild shots, and a late offsides summarized its next 10 minutes of play. Another offsides call in the 23rd minute only made matters worse — the Fighting Illini bench erupted in protest.
Frustrations continued to boil over as Ashley Stellon received a yellow card after multiple aggressive shoves sent Mckinley Heaven to the turf in the 30th minute.
Another long try from Morales missed just high in the 33rd minute as she searched for her first brace of the season.
Aside from that, Maryland created little through the interval. But while the Fighting Illini outshot Maryland 9-5 in the opening half, the Terps dominated shots on goal, 3-1.
The Terps came out at the half looking focused, entering while “Bring ‘Em Out” by T.I. blaring across Ludwig Field.
But Illinois quickly silenced Maryland. A beautiful through ball from Sarah Foley was put away by team-leading goalscorer Emma Yee less than a minute into the half.
The teams traded shots in the 59th minute as the match was locked in a brutal stalemate. Another shot from Stellon won a corner kick in the 61st minute, which couldn’t yield a score.
Michael Marchiano subbed out the entire frontline in the 63rd minute, likely trying to rest key players for a late push. One of the replacements, Ellie Egeland, fell to the turf after a poke attempt and was carried off the field with an apparent ankle injury less than two minutes after subbing in.
After a miscue in the 18-yard box in the 69th minute, Maryland defender Alyssa Abramson was assessed a yellow card, allowing Illinois’ Sarah Hiestand to prepare for a potentially game-changing penalty kick. Hiestand’s shot was saved by Faith Luckey, but then rebounded to Lia Howard. Luckey then wrapped up Howard’s attempt, stifling a huge Illinois opportunity in the 71st minute.
Another Illinois chance was ruined minutes later as a goal was disallowed by the official on a clear offsides call. The Fighting Illini continued to pepper Luckey — Foley’s shot in the 79th minute was punched over the crossbar, and another pair of saves minutes later pushed Luckey to nine stops on the day.
But in the 85th minute, Maryland’s good fortune had finally run out. Cayla Jackson’s shot snuck by Luckey to give Illinois its first lead of the match.
“Its a bit of a gut punch to concede late,” said Marchiano. “But if we’re honest with ourselves, we could have conceded other times in the lead up to that.”
Three things to know
1. Senior Day shocker. In what looked to be a draw the whole match, Illinois came up clutch late to steal a tie from the Terps. Maryland moves to 6-7 on the season as its chances of making the Big Ten Tournament look bleak.
2. Luckey continues to succeed. In a match where Illinois launched an astonishing 23 shots, Luckey continued to show poise in goal, logging a career-high nine saves Sunday afternoon.
“She made a lot of good saves,” said Marchiano. “And hopefully as we move forward we can protect her a little better.”
3. Outshot again. A big area of concern for Maryland is the amount of shots it creates and allows. Once again Sunday, the Terps were outshot, 23-10. Missed opportunities and caution on offense played a huge role in the loss, and the Terps simply couldn’t get past Lee in goal with the chances they took.
