COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The nip-and-tuck series between Navy and Maryland wrote its latest chapter on Thursday night as for the second straight year a second half goal stood up as the deciding tally in a one-score game as the Terrapins (4-1) held off the Mids (4-2) by a score of 2-1 at Ludwig Field on Maryland's campus.

The non-conference tilt was defensive heavy for the majority of the first half before a late Terrapin goal gave the hosts a 1-0 going into the locker room. Maryland received a much-needed insurance score in the 64th minute as a game Navy squad went down swinging with multiple quality looks at net and eventually broke onto the scoreboard courtesy of a Marlee Heaven (Sr., Rockville, Md.) penalty kick conversion in the 84th minute.

"This is a tough result because we feel like we succeeded in doing the two major things that we set out to do, shut down Kelsey Smith [just one shot allowed] and limit free kick opportunities deep in our zone," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We gave them [Maryland] a little bit too much respect and played them deeper than we wanted to. They were able to take advantage of two very tight scoring windows and made us pay.

"Offensively, the quality of our passing wasn't where we needed it to be and when we won the ball we often times gave it right back too quickly."

Defense dominated the action as the opening 15 minutes went by with just one combined shot for the two squads, a header on target by Maryland's Eva Mowery that forced Natasha Stramrood (So., Cypress, Texas) to leap to her left to corral the shot.

The game opened up a bit more offensively over the ensuing 25 minutes as the Terps registered the next five shots. Unfortunately, for the Mids a poor clearance deep in their final third and an ensuing well struck shot by Ellie Egeland ricochetted off a Navy defender and into the back of the net to make it 1-0 in favor of the hosts at 35:12.

Navy's first look at goal came a little over three minutes later when Jessica Black (Fr., Cedaredge, Colo.) came in control of the ball and ripped a shot from 25 yards out that just skipped wide of frame.

Coming out in the second down trailing by one goal, Stramrood made sure the margin stayed the same with her third save of the day when she smothered an Egeland shot in the 52nd minute.

With the Mids still searching for the game-tying tally, the Terps had a loud response at 63:01 when Gemma Davitian hammered home a loose ball rebound off an Emily Lenhard shot that was initially save for a 2-0 lead.

Down, but not out, Navy increased its comeback efforts as less than three minutes later, Heaven squared up a shot that had eyes for the back of the net, though a Maryland defender threw her leg out inside the box and deflected the attempt away from harm.

The Mids' pressure finally resulted in a score as a shot in the box was batted down by a Terrapin defender's arm for a penalty shot. Calm and composed Heaven deposited her attempt passed the Maryland goalkeeper at 83:09 for her fourth goal of her senior campaign.

Invigorated by this late break, Navy started curling threatening crosses into the box that required constant attention from Faith Luckey, the Terps' goalkeeper, with punches and swats of the ball. Maryland's bend, but not break effort held on for the 2-1 final score.

For the game, Maryland out-shot Navy, 12-6 with a 7-2 edge in shots on goal. The Terps also had a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks over the Mids.

Stramrood finished with five saves in goal for Navy.

"Our outside backs, Helen Bonner and Emmalea Sidorsky deserve kudos as they played really well," commented Gabarra in closing. "Sidorsky was charged with marking Smith and limited her to just one shot all game, she did a tremendous job.

"Overall, I'm proud of the heart and determination that we showed tonight. We're every bit as good as them. If we played a clean game it could've totally been a different outcome. At the end of the day though, we win as a team and lose as a team. We'll now turn our attention to preparing for Sacred Heart on Sunday."

Next up for the Mids is a return visit to the Pioneers of Sacred Heart. The two teams met last August and a scoring bonanza broke out with eight combined goals as Navy came out on top 5-3. Kickoff in Fairfield, Connecticut is set for 12-noon on Sunday.