(CSTV U-WIRE) COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- It's never easy for the Terrapin women's soccer team.
In another game in which they outplayed, outclassed and outshot a much lesser nonconference opponent, the Terps could do no better than a 1-1 tie Saturday night against Kent State.
The Terps outshot the Golden Flashes 33-5, but they had countless near-misses and saw at least five shots go off the post or crossbar, needing senior defender Ashly Kennedy's goal in the 76th minute to come from behind and salvage a draw.
"It can't get any more frustrating than it is," coach Brian Pensky said. "It's as simple as that. This is as frustrated as we could possibly be."
Senior forward Kimberly Dimitroff opened the scoring on the Golden Flashes' first shot of the game in the 58th minute, when the Terps already had 21 shots.
Dimitroff took a pass from junior midfielder Caitlin Hester and snuck it past Terp freshman goalkeeper Yewande Balogun, who seemed to hesitate to make a decision between coming to play the pass and staying back on her line.
"They had a good counter on us, and I think we didn't necessarily go with our marks," Kennedy said. "We all have to take full responsibility, we're all as one. I wouldn't blame any one certain person."
The goal came less than a minute after Terp junior midfielder Nataly Arias just missed on three golden scoring opportunities within a stretch of four minutes.
Freshman forward Annesia Faulkner set up Arias' first attempt in the 53rd minute. Arias took Faulkner's pass and dribbled into the box, where she fired an absolute rocket that hit the crossbar and bounced away.
Two minutes later, she fired another shot from the top of the box that skimmed the top of the crossbar, and after a free kick two minutes later, she hit the post.
"Anytime you play against a team like this, it's a game of time," Pensky said. "It's a question of 'Do they believe or not believe?' and the longer you go and the more we give them reasons to believe, then the more they think they can play."
The Terps finally tied it in the 76th minute as Kennedy scored from the top of the box when she got to a loose ball after junior forward Kaila Sciascia played a free kick to the middle from the right of the goal.
"I think it kind of got our energy back and our mentality back in the game," Kennedy said. "The goal was great, but at the same time we didn't get to finish the other quality shots that we wanted."
