Brendan Healy found the perfect way to turn his miserable day into one of his most memorable.
The sophomore midfielder scored a wraparound goal with 3:41 left in the second overtime to allow No.3 Maryland to slip past No.12 Notre Dame 9-8 yesterday before 3,008 at Byrd Stadium.
It was an otherwise forgettable day for Healy, who missed his first nine shots and jumped off side to cost the Terrapins (11-2) the final possession of the first overtime.
“I was beating my man the whole game but I was missing my shots wide a lot,” Healy said. “They were pressing out a lot at the long poles so we needed to take them with a short stick. I dove and shot it and was just happy it went in.”
It was first overtime victory since 1997 for the Terps, who had dropped five straight in extra time.
Maryland’s Drew Virk snared the faceoff in the second overtime and called a timeout just as Notre Dame tried to pry the ball out of his stick. The Terps then set up a play for Healy, who had come from behind the cage only once before this season. As scripted, Healy charged around the right side of the goal, beating midfielder Bill Liva and goalie Stewart Crosland (15 saves) for the game-winner.
“I just felt he was fresh,” Maryland coach Dave Cottle said. “I knew he would get a shot off. Whether it went in or not, we had no idea. We were lucky we guessed right on that.”
The frantic finish didn’t match the game’s dull first half. Maryland was not nearly as crisp in its passing as it was last weekend when it won the ACC tournament. Through a combination of perhaps too much patience and the Fighting Irish’s solid defensive scheme, the Terps managed only one goal in the first half.
Notre Dame (7-5) didn’t do much better. The Terps’ Tim McGinnis made nine saves in the first half — including seven in the second quarter — to hold the Irish’s lead to 3-1 at the break.
“We were all out of sync,” Cottle said. “Timmy McGinnis and our defense kept us in it because we didn’t give them much hope that we were going to score.”
Maryland produced five goals in the third quarter but trailed 7-6 at the end of the period. Notre Dame nearly stretched the lead to two when McGinnis dropped a pass behind the cage. However, he scampered back to make a sprawling save on Matt Malakoff’s near-empty netter. The Terps’ Bill McGlone then tied it up a couple minutes later.
The Irish took an 8-7 lead when Brian Giordano scored from 15 yards out with 1:23 left. The Terps won the ensuing faceoff and, after the teams traded turnovers, senior J.R. Bordley nailed a 10-yarder off the dodge with 19 seconds remaining to force overtime.
Notre Dame stayed in it despite getting virtually nothing from its top two attackmen. Sophomore Pat Walsh never got into the flow of the offense and finished with an assist, while senior Matt Howell missed the game with a hip injury.
The close loss could be enough to boost the Fighting Irish into the NCAA tournament. Notre Dame had won five straight, but has defeated only one team (Denver) in this week’s top 20.
“We aren’t in control of that now and that’s unfortunate, but anyone who’s seen us play in the last three or four weeks has to know we’re one of the top 10 teams in the country,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said.
“I hope that we’ve proven that in the way we’ve played the last few weeks and I hope that’s enough to get us in because I think if we can get in we can do some damage.”
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