COLLEGE PARK, Md. -The Virginia women's soccer team's road game against Maryland Friday was a tale of two halves. No. 18 Virginia gave up two goals in the first half but rebounded in the second to win, 3-2, for its first conference road victory. More precisely, however, the game was a tale of two young teams and the maturity with which each reacted at halftime to a match that seemed securely in Maryland's hands.
With temperatures at Ludwig Field hovering around 50 degrees, each team retreated to a covered tent for the 15-minute intermission. In the home tent, Maryland players jubilantly cheered and celebrated the two-goal lead the Terps (5-7, 0-4 ACC) had over Virginia (7-5, 2-2), a team they were clearly outplaying.
"We have a lot of young players," said Riki-Ann Serrins, the Terps' athletic senior goalkeeper. "They get excited. They didn't expect to be up two goals against a good team."
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On Virginia's end, the mood was more somber and the conversation more strategic.
"We weren't making the right decisions in the box in the first half," said Cav coach Steve Swanson, who was coaching against Maryland for the first time. "We were a little disappointed that we were losing some loose balls and weren't fighting. We talked at halftime about playing a little harder and battling more."
Shortly afterward, the Cavaliers' preparation paid off. In the 69th minute, midfielder Katie Tracy beat Serrins on a broken corner kick play. Less than two minutes later, Lori Lindsey tied the game with a high lob on a short free kick that just cleared Maryland's wall of defenders.
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"We're screaming in the tent like we won the game at halftime and there's still 45 minutes to go," Serrins said. "Against a team like that, you can't be content being up two goals at halftime. We were happy that we scored two goals in the first half. What makes us think they can't do that in the second? We shouldn't have been that excited."
However, Serrins - not one of her younger teammates - committed Maryland's final error. In the 82nd minute, Virginia forward Darci Borski, playing in a reserve role for the first time this season, shot a lob from almost the same spot Lindsey had scored from minutes earlier. Again, the ball went over Serrins' outstretched arms and into the goal. Virginia had its 3-2 margin of victory.
"Even though we were down, I knew we would come back," said Lindsey, who got the assist on Borski's goal. "We were relaxed. Once the first one came, we knew."
Borski sat on the bench for the first 14 minutes because Swanson started Sarah Lane, a talented freshman forward who scored two goals in the Cavs' 7-0 win over George Washington Tuesday. In the fifth minute, Lane suffered a scary collision with Serrins while sprinting to a ball. Lane injured her thigh and did not return but is expected to recover in time for Virginia's game against Wake Forest Thursday.
Without her, the Cavs were sluggish on offense in the first half. They managed 12 shots, but missed Lane's speed and could not solve Maryland's trapping defense. Meanwhile, the Terps scored twice. First, midfielder Terri Greer surprised the Cavs with a long inbounds throw that Courtney Beirne converted for her first goal of the year. Then, in the 32nd minute, Greer evaded the Cav defense down the right side, received a cross from forward Sara Gustafson and tapped the ball past Virginia keeper Julie Harris.
However, Harris redeemed herself with six saves, her most in a game this season. She and Tracy were the only seniors to start for Virginia, though the three freshmen and three sophomores who started showed remarkable maturity when presented with a two-goal deficit. Against No. 4 North Carolina Sept. 1, the Cavs gave up five goals in the second half. Then Sept. 29 against No. 2 Clemson, they allowed a sudden-death overtime goal. But Friday, Virginia suffered no late collapses. Instead, the Terps, who also had six starters who were either freshmen or sophomores, played the roles of comeback victim and broke down so completely in the second half they took only five shots to Virginia's 17.
One of the Cavs' shots was Borski's high-arching lob. After the goal, she ran around the center of the field with her arms raised and headed to the bench to take high-fives from her teammates. The Maryland players just stood still and watched the celebration, presumably regretting their own.
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