Behind a hat trick from junior midfielder Nicholette DiGiacomo, the Pioneer women’s soccer team upset No. 4 Maryland 3-2 on Friday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The contest was held at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium at Stanford University.
“She’s a big-time player, and she does well in big games,” said head coach Jeff Hooker said of DiGiacomo’s performance. “She wasn’t going to give up, and she did a great job of organizing everyone and making them feel comfortable around her. They were giving the ball to her and letting her run things, and she did a great job spreading it around.”
To earn the victory, the Pioneers (17-2-4) had to overcome a 0-2 deficit in the final 30 minutes to send the contest into overtime. Maryland opened the scoring only four minutes into the contest, when junior forward Hayley Brock rebounded a save from Pioneer goalkeeper Lara Campbell.
Heading into halftime, the score remained at 1-0 in favor of Maryland (14-7-2).
“It’s always tough when you give up the first one,” said Hooker. “They started a little bit better than we did, and we didn’t start how we wanted to. At halftime, I thought the girls were saying the right things, doing the right things and their body language was great. I tweaked the formation a little bit and we ended up getting more of the ball. We’ve been down two goals before and they never panicked; we kept trying to play.”
It wasn’t until 15 minutes into the second half that either team was able to find the back of the net. Although the Pioneers attacked the goal several times, it was the Terps’ Becky Kaplan who was able to slide one in.
Eight minutes, later, however, DiGiacomo scored her first goal of the night off a header, set up by sophomore center back Sam Harder. Sophomore midfielder Nikki Pappalardo nearly scored again for Denver roughly 10 minutes later, but Terps goalkeeper Rachelle Beanlands was able to capture the save.
DiGiacomo posted the tying goal in the 90th minute on a penalty kick, with only 41 seconds remaining in the contest. While it was nearly too late, it was enough to send the contest into overtime.
“Maryland was unreal, so fast and athletic,” said DiGiacomo. “Every girl [on Denver] worked their butts off and did what we needed to do. Our goals came a little later than we would have liked, but we got them in and it was a complete team effort. I felt like everyone was on their game, and after we calmed down, we realized we could play with them. Our confidence grew and we were able to ping the ball around more.”
Maryland put the first shot on goal in overtime, but Campbell came up with a big save for the Pioneers. Two minutes later, junior forward Kristen Hamilton assisted DiGiacomo with the game-winning goal, improving the Pioneers to 3-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and sending the team to its first-ever Sweet 16.
At the end of the contest, the Pioneers outshot the Terps 14-13 and held a 4-2 advantage in corners.
Next, Denver will take on host Stanford in the Sweet 16 on Sunday at 2 p.m. Stanford, the defending national champion, is ranked No. 1 in the country and boasts a 19-1-1 overall record this season.
