No. 2 Notre Dame 1, No. 5 Maryland 1
NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Senior Patrick Mullins tallied the lone goal for the Terps as No. 5 Maryland escaped No. 2 Notre Dame with a 1-1 draw on Tuesday.
Maryland (5-2-4, 4-0-2 ACC) was keyed by a strong defensive effort as the Terps kicked off the first leg of their most difficult road trip of the year. Freshman Zack Steffen racked up five saves to anchor the effort against Notre Dame (6-0-4, 3-0-3 ACC).
After 10 unsuccessful tries, Vince Cicciarelli put Notre Dame on the board with a softly touched goal to finally penetrate the Terrapin backline in the 59th minute.
The Terps notched the equalizer at 71:45 when Maryland completed its most efficient counterattack of the match. Mikias Eticha – who logged a season-high in minutes Tuesday – fed Mullins from just north of the center line for a 15-yard, left-footed strike for his sixth tally of 2013.
With 15 minutes remaining in the second half, the Terps nearly added the gamewinner when Notre Dame keeper Patrick Wall bobbled a set piece opportunity and David Kabelik’s rebound try was blocked out. Kabelik’s attempt was followed up by a near volleyed goal by Eticha but his shot sailed high.
Steffen came up big again with another save with nine minutes to play when he stepped up to thwart a Harrison Shipp strike.
Shipp nearly gave the Irish the victory midway thru the first overtime stanza when his left-footed shot when just wide of the back post. Connor Klekota nearly finished the match as well with a shot just wide of the goal in the 102nd minute.
Mullins came dangerously close to swaying the decision Maryland’s way with a near miss to the back post after a fantastic distribution from Dan Metzger from 30 yards.
No. 3 Washington 2, Seattle U. 0
SEATTLE -- No. 3 Washington (8-0-3) finished off an unbeaten non-conference season, topping Seattle U. (2-8-1), 2-0. The Dawgs spoiled a festive atmosphere as the Redhawks recently added lights to Championship field and were playing a night game for the first time.
Josh Heard was the hero for the Dawgs, scoring twice in the second half to win it. Washington had taken control of the game after the break, but had yet to breakthrough against the stingy Redhawk defense.
Defensively, Washington did not allow much in the way of chances for the Redhawks after the half, but survived a scare in the early going. Seattle U. forced Ryan Herman into three tough saves in the first 25 minutes, including a 1v1 opportunity.
Herman picked up his third shutout of the season and lowered his goals against average to 0.61.
