Maryland women’s soccer struggled to create any offense for over two-thirds of its Sunday night clash against Virginia Tech, culminating in a deficit that reached as many as two goals.
It looked like the hill would be too much to climb for the Terps, but Jolie Farmer came to the rescue yet again. The star striker took over, with a 65th-minute goal and an assist evening the score in Maryland’s 2-2 draw against Virginia Tech.
Farmer had earlier opportunities in potentially dangerous positions, but no
other Terps gave any attacking support.
Finally, another Terp aided Farmer on offense. Abigail Stager created a massive chance inside the Virginia Tech 18-yard box, and Farmer capitalized, putting the Terps on the board to cut the deficit to one in the 65th minute.
The goal lit a fire in the Maryland attack. The Terps started gaining more possession of the ball, and just minutes after they struck for the first time, Ella Petry rocketed a shot past Julianna Trujillo to even the score in the 71st minute.
But Virginia Tech held most of the possession in the early goings of the game, and created the first chances of the contest. A shot from Eliana Salama required Meredith Fisher to make the first save by either team in the 22nd minute.
Less than a minute later, Fisher came through again for the Terps, punching the ball over the crossbar on a shot from Anna Weir.
Just over 28 minutes into the first half, it looked like the scoreless tie would be broken early. Anna Weir seemed to beat Fisher in a one-on-one situation with nothing but green grass ahead. However, Weir was stifled by a heroic effort by Dani Gichner, who deflected the ball out of bounds.
That effort would end up being for nothing.
On the ensuing cornerkick, Hannah Pachan swung the ball into the box, where Hokie midfielder Peyton May headed the ball past Fisher to give Virginia Tech the first-half lead.
That advantage would get doubled up with seven minutes to go in the first half after a strike from Riley Karpinski. Maryland’s defense gave space for the Hokies’ attack to operate, and Karpinski capitalized with ease.
Virginia Tech barraged the Terps’ goal throughout the night, totalling 25 shots and eight shots on goal. Salama and Weir were dangerous throughout the game, tallying 13 and four shots, respectively.
Despite the amount of pressure the Hokies brought, Maryland held strong in the second half.
Coming out of the halftime break, head coach Michael Marchiano made a crucial decision by subbing in Faith Luckey to replace Fisher between the pipes.
Luckey came up huge for Maryland, making four saves and holding the Virginia Tech offense scoreless in the second half.
The first-choice goalkeeper in 2025, Luckey has sparsely played this season due to injury, but her impact was on full display against the Hokies.
With just three seconds remaining in the game, Luckey came through again, punching the ball over the crossbar on a last gasp effort from a Salama free kick.
The draw gave Maryland a massive result early in the season against a Virginia Tech team expected to finish near the top of the ACC table.
Three things to know
- Farmer is a star. The Terps’ transfer forward was sensational against the Hokies. While she struggled at times during the second half, Farmer charged back and single-handedly powered Maryland’s offense.
- Luckey bails out defensive struggles. Maryland will need all the help it can get on defense this season, but having Luckey in the net should give it a boost. Despite Virginia Tech firing 16 shots in the second half, Luckey helped navigate the Terps to a scoreless final 45 minutes.
- Maryland shows its heart. Trailing 2-0 late in the game, it would have been easy for the Terps to go down without a fight. Instead, Maryland persevered, fighting back to get a hard-earned draw.
