Only 24 seconds separated Maryland women’s soccer from its first Big Ten win in over 700 days on Sunday against Northwestern. But when Northwestern forward Francesca Docters put in the equalizer for the Wildcats, the home crowd at Ludwig Field was stunned.
Twenty minutes passed following Docters’ goal, and both Maryland and Northwestern wrapped up its first full week of conference play with a draw. Northwestern was likely ecstatic to travel back to Evanston, Illinois, with a result that seemingly came out of nowhere after getting dominated by Maryland for most of the game. For Maryland, there was only one word to describe the draw: heartbreak.