COLLEGE PARK-For much of yesterday's NCAA tournament second-round game against Penn State, the Maryland Terrapins found themselves in perfect position to defend Nittany Lions star forward Christie Welsh.
They drew her offside on several occasions, pushed her outside on others, and Terps junior goalie Kristen Barnhill was quick off the line throughout to pick off crosses and through balls intended for Welsh.
But the Terps lost track of the senior at an inopportune time. Finally finding a little room, Welsh settled a ball on the right side of the field and lofted a cross in the penalty area to junior Heidi Drummond, who headed it past Barnhill with just 2:44 to play. The goal stood up as the 12th-ranked Nittany Lions downed No. 17 Maryland, 2-1, in a well-played game, contested in a cold and steady rain at Ludwig Field.
Penn State (17-3-1) advanced to the next round and will host Virginia, a 1-0 winner over West Virginia yesterday, next weekend. The Terps (13-8-1), losers to the Nittany Lions, 1-0, in October, were knocked out by Penn State in the second round in 1999.
Drummond's goal came after sustained pressure from the Nittany Lions, who were the more aggressive team, out-shooting Maryland 14-10 and getting whistled for 22 fouls to Maryland's eight. On the play leading up to the goal, Maryland had a couple of chances to clear but failed, a costly mistake as Drummond got inside position on her defender from about five yards away and snapped a low header past Barnhill.
"I just sent a Hail Mary into the box and Heidi just made something out of absolutely nothing and redirected it," said Welsh, a U.S. National Team player. "Thank God we got it by the goalkeeper."
Welsh, who now has 13 goals and 13 assists after registering 25 goals and 18 assists on her way to national Player of the Year honors in 2001, was shadowed all day by a host of Terps defenders, including senior Lindsay Givens, one of Welsh's teammates on a Long Island club team.
She was actually on the sideline when the Nittany Lions opened the scoring 14 minutes before halftime. Freshman Tiffany Weimer split two defenders on the right side of the box, before playing a perfect pass to unmarked junior Joanna Lohman, who slotted it into the open side of the net for her ninth goal.
Maryland answered six minutes later. Midfielder Kim King's shot deflected off Penn State defender Leigh Hamilton and into the goal mouth. Freshman goalie Amanda Brown couldn't corral it, and Terps freshman Simone Dekker blasted home the rebound.
"When I laid it off to Kimmy, I felt like something good was going to come out of it, so I followed it up," said Dekker.
But the rest of the game, Maryland, whose short passing and possession game was slowed on the muddy surface, found scoring chances hard to come by. Penn State threatened often and broke though late.
"In all fairness, I think the best 16 teams should make it to the next 16. Were we one of the best 16 teams in the country? I think at the end of the season we were," said Terps coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski, who started four freshmen and got the team's only goal from a first-year player. "I truthfully believe we should be part of the final 16, but we ran into obviously a good Penn State team at the round of 32."