ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The fans that braved the rainy conditions at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility on Thursday night were treated to 90 minutes of hard-fought soccer between intrastate rivals, the Navy women's soccer team and the University of Maryland. Unfortunately for those home fans of the Midshipmen (3-3), a late goal by the Terrapins' (2-1-2) Kelsey Smith in the 74th minute proved to be the deciding factor in the eventual 1-0 outcome.

"I'm proud of the discipline we showed tonight in following our game plan," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We kept our shape throughout and did a great job of making plays under control. We were very good at passing players on and continuing to keep our shape. I thought we created some great chances. We were very close on a few of those chances, but it came down to big moments tonight and they had one big moment where they scored and we had a couple of big moments where we didn't.

"We put in a quality 90 minutes tonight. Kelsey Smith from Maryland is a great player and took over for that one possession and fought her way for that goal. We were looking to do that on the other side of the field and we did create chances. We defended strongly; we played tightly and followed the game plan, but they got the one goal and that was the difference."

The action on Thursday night was dominated by the defense as the teams combined for just four total shots on goal for the entire game. The only shot on goal of the opening period came early on in the first half when Amanda Graziano (Sr., Middlebury, Conn.) swung a deep, looping free kick over the sea of Navy and Maryland players in the box and towards the back post where the upcoming Tatum Kelly (Sr., Pinehurst, N.C.) headed the ball at the lower corner, but Maryland goalkeeper, Liz Beardsley, was active off her line and dove on the shot to save a potential goal in the eighth minute.

Navy's defensive structure was tight and quelled numerous Maryland attacks without allowing the Terps to put a shot on goal during the first half. With their opponents held at bay, the Mids were able to make in-roads over the final 15 minutes of the first half as Alexa Riddle (Sr., Tomball, Texas) sent a dangerous cross into the six-yard box, but the ball was just out of the reach of a pair of header attempts in the 31st minute before Hannah Mulholland (So., Chandler, Ariz.) fed a through ball to Marlee Heaven (Jr., Rockville, Md.), who pushed her shot just wide of the goal in the 42nd minute.

 "As a group, I was very pleased with the play of our midfielders," commented Gabarra. "Our four midfielders rotated very well centrally. They interchanged their marks, they passed players on and picked new runners up. They defended very well and doubled back really hard. Our cohesion in our defending was very good."

With the score 0-0 at the halftime intermission, Navy continued its aim of collecting the first goal of the contest during the early portion of the second half. Goalkeeper Natasha Stramrood (Fr., Cypress, Texas) played a pivotal role in the initial opportunity when she made a save and subsequently launched a thunderous punt past midfield and hit Riddle in stride, who quickly distributed the ball into space for Heaven, though her attempt was slightly off target in the 59th minute.

The Mids' only official shot on goal in the second stanza came courtesy of a long, powerful free kick by Mulholland that cleared the Terps' defense and skipped into Beardsley's chest in the 66th minute.

Maryland fought its way into the scoring column at 73:17 when the newly re-inserted Kelsey Smith muscled her way through the box and found just enough of a seam to square up a shot and find the back of the net for the game's first and only goal.

Down 1-0, Navy battled until the final whistle as they had one more look at goal in the 90th minute when Stramrood got a hold of her goal kick and after a lead pass from the midfield, Heaven received the ball and ripped one last shot towards the goal only to see the ball sail wide.

For the game, Navy out-shot Maryland, 12-7, though both teams were even with two shots on goal. The teams also tied in the corner kick category at 3-3.

"We never accept losing and we're not happy with this outcome," said Gabarra in closing. "This needs to be a game that we learn and work to improve from. We won't settle for this. We'll dig deeper from tonight and move forward with an intense desire to improve; next time we have a big moment we will put those chances away."

Navy will head out on the road to complete its weekend with a tilt in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. versus Marist College. Kick-off between the Mids and Red Foxes is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.