The never say die mindset of the No. 22 University of Minnesota women's soccer team wasn't enough to pull off a second-half comeback Friday night in its 1-0 road loss against No. 5/6 Maryland.

After having the game delayed for nearly two and a half hours due to lightning in the area, the Golden Gophers (0-1) came out and put together a solid first half, but the Terps (1-0) slipped through the defense in the 20^th minute to unknot the score. Becky Kaplan and Megan Gibbons had a pair of one-time passes to set up Danielle Hubka on the left side of the goal. Hubka then drilled a ball over Minnesota goalkeeper Cat Parkhill for the first goal of the match.

After the goal, Maryland's offense penetrated the Gophers' backline until junior Nicole Baier received a clearance from fellow classmate Marissa Price and broke away from the Terps. Baier reached the top of the box and prepared to shoot when she was fouled by a Maryland defender. The free kick was given just at the top of the 18-yard box, where senior Shair Eckstrom set up to take advantage of scoring chance. Eckstrom bent a perfect ball around the wall of Maryland players to the far post, but Yewande Balogun, the Terrapin's keeper, made an astounding save by diving to her left and denying one of the Gophers' best chances to get on the board.

Maryland would continue to hold the Golden Gophers in the first half to carry a 1-0 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, Maryland came out and attacked the Minnesota defense, in which, Parkhill haulted the Terps' offensive charge. Later in the half, Minnesota would reclaim control of the match and put together its own offense attack.

The Gophers final chance of the match came in the 88^th minute when freshman Sheridan Reiners fought through a pair of Terrapin defenders to control the ball just inside the 18-yard box. At that point Reiners collided with the Balogun but still got a slow rolling shot off. The ball was a foot away from crossing the goal line when Kristen McAfee made a game-saving play by clearing the ball out of bounds and killing the Golden Gophers' last hope of trying to bind the score.

The final score ended as 1-0 defeat for the Golden Gophers, but head coach Mikki Denney Wright elected to focus on the positive aspect in the well fought battle against the nationally-ranked opponent.

"Tonight was a hard fought battle against a very good opponent," said Mikki Denney Wright. "We saw many areas on which we can improve, and we will continue to focus on those in the coming weeks. I was particularly impressed with the play of our back three and our goalkeeper; I think they can be a special group. "

Minnesota was outshot in the match 12-7, but four of the Gophers' shots were on target with all of them serving as huge threats to the Terps. The defense of Minnesota was stingy as it didn't allow Maryland to garner a corner kick all match, while the Gophers had two.

Parkhill tallied five saves during the contest while Balogun recorded four.

The Golden Gophers return home on Sunday for its 2011 home opener against South Dakota State (0-1). The Jackrabbits also fell in dramatic fashion as it lost to Creighton 1-0 earlier tonight. Sunday's match against SDSU begins at 1 p.m. at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. Minnesota will be honoring its Facebook and Twitter fans Sunday by allowing free admission with the correct code word.

To gain more information on how to receive free admission Sunday's game, head to the Golden Gopher Soccer fan page on Facebook and "Like" it.

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