Four minutes.
With a 1-1 score, that was how much time was remaining in Indiana women’s soccer’s match against Maryland on Thursday.
That score changed approximately 13 seconds later, to an explosion of cheers from the fans at Ludwig Field in College Park, Maryland.
A late goal from freshman forward Mckinley Heaven gave the Terrapins a late 2-1 lead that they held onto for the remainder of the contest.
Up until the go-ahead goal by Heaven, the match had been heavily contested throughout the night.
The Indiana defense, which has been stout all season, held Maryland to just five shot attempts in the first half. The Hoosiers put up four shots of their own, with neither team able to convert for a score in the first 45 minutes.
The defense has proven to be a staple of the Hoosiers this year. Indiana entered Thursday having only allowed six goals in the first seven matches of the season. The Hoosiers also entered off the back of two shutouts in back-to-back matches against Ohio University on Sept. 7 and at Illinois on Sept. 12.
Senior goalkeeper Dani Jacobson put together another clean first half between the posts for the Hoosiers.
Despite the offensive struggle in the first half, Indiana found some early success in the second half.
In the 51st minute, freshman defender Grace Hamm sent a lofted ball directly toward the Maryland box. It deflected off the cross bar and over the extended hands of redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Faith Luckey and into the back of the net.
The goal from Hamm marked her third goal in her young career. The freshman has scored three of the Hoosiers’ last four goals.
A few minutes later, redshirt junior forward Kelsey Smith tied the game. Smith won the ball just outside of her side of center circle, and she took the ball all the way. Weaving in and out of Indiana defenders, Smith eventually found room and fired a shot into the bottom left corner off her left foot to tie the game 1-1.
Then, after an extended period of solid defense by both squads, Heaven found the back of the net for Maryland in the closing minutes and put them ahead for good. Indiana started to push the tempo and had one last shot from junior midfielder Kennedy Neighbors, but a save by Luckey closed any hope for a draw.
Despite how well the Hoosiers played for most of the contest, the match will go down as a loss, their first in Big Ten play. It drops the Hoosiers to 3-3-2 on the year and 0-1-1 in Big Ten play.
The road continues to be a struggle for Indiana this year, as all three of the team’s losses happened away from Bill Armstrong Stadium. In the midst of a three-game road trip, the Hoosiers will have a chance to overcome those road struggles soon.
Indiana will wrap up its road trip against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights will enter the contest with just one loss, sitting at 2-1-4 on the season and a 0-1-1 mark in conference play. Rutgers dropped its most recent match 2-1 at the hands of Minnesota on Thursday.
The Hoosiers’ contest against the Scarlet Knights is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at Yurcak Field in Piscataway, New Jersey. The game will be streamed live on BigTen+.
Follow reporters Noah Gerkey (@Noah_Gerk and ngerkey@iu.edu) and Will Kwiatkowski (@WKwiatkowski_15 and wdkwiatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women's soccer season.
