IU women’s soccer traveled to College Park, Maryland, looking for a win and three points that would draw it even further into the fold of Big Ten tournament teams.
Instead, IU settled for a point as it finished in a scoreless draw with Maryland and maintained position in the top eight of Big Ten teams.
The game was an exposition in defense and goaltending, especially for the Hoosiers, as junior goalkeeper Bethany Kopel picked up her 17th career shutout.
On the opposite end of the pitch, Maryland’s senior goalkeeper Erin Seppi was equally impressive, notching six saves and shutout as well.
The first half was a bit of jumble for both teams with no goals scored despite seven shots for IU and nine for Maryland.
Kopel’s two saves moved her into second all-time in program history.
IU dominated the first roughly 12 minutes of play, getting off five of its seven first half shots in that timeframe.
The second half featured far more scoring opportunities for both sides, but stellar defense and even better goaltending kept the game scoreless.
Junior defender Hanna Nemeth made a couple diving blocks in front of Kopel, and Kopel made a big stop herself.
In the 80th minute, junior midfielder Mel Forbes had the Hoosiers’ best chance of the game to that point as senior midfielder Chandra Davidson placed a cross pass perfectly on Forbes' foot that missed just inches to the left of a wide open net.
With the game scoreless, the Hoosiers entered just their second overtime game of the season; the other was their scoreless draw with Michigan.
The first overtime presented the Hoosiers with golden opportunities to score when they earned three consecutive corner kicks, all of which were cleared out by Maryland’s Seppi.
The second overtime produced just one shot for either side, and after 110 minutes the match ended in a scoreless tie. The shutout was the fifth in its last six games for IU. As for Maryland, it marked 310 minutes since it last scored a goal.
IU’s game against Rutgers on Sunday now holds more importance for both IU and Maryland. A Rutgers loss Thursday night plus a win for IU on Sunday would put the Hoosiers in fifth in the conference with two games to play.
