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The only goal-scorer of the evening, Maryland's Alexis Prior-Brown, takes on Julia Roberts and Ingrid Wells

This was almost the mirror opposite of Saturday’s game against North Carolina: team A has the run of play for the first twenty minutes, but then team B scores and changes the whole complexion of the match. This time, though, the Spirit were the team to give up the goal, ending a 200+-minute shutout streak as defender Tori Huster while trying to block out Maryland’s Hayley Brock let a Cory Ryan cross bounce off her and into the net.

Then in the 68th minute, defender Casey Berrier gave up the ball deep in her own end to Alexis Prior-Brown, who spearheaded a three-on-goalkeeper break but put the ball away herself. On top of that, Maryland had several chances late that could easily have made the score even more lopsided.

So how does a team beat the NCAA champion Tar Heels one day and then lose to the Terrapins a few days later?

The best player on a bad night: the Spirit's Stephanie Ochs duels with Terrapin Erika Nelson

“It was just an off day for us,” said Stephanie Ochs, who probably had the best outing of any of the Spirit players. “We had a lot of different issues. We weren’t moving off the ball well. [We had] a lack of composure when we were in front of goal.”

Head coach Mike Jorden saw additional issues. “We didn’t have a lot of energy tonight. And we couldn’t finish. We’ve definitely got to work on that.”

Neither made the obvious point, that this lineup isn’t close to the one that will be starting against Boston on the 14th. In addition to the US and Canadian national teamers being away, many players nursing minor injuries were given the night off, most notably Tiffany McCarty, who was the most dangerous player in the Carolina match but who was a late scratch from this one. A back five of Chapman, Toulouse, Gayle, Krieger, and Harris isn’t going to give up the goals that Weigel, Anderson, Berrier, Hodak, and Jones are. And of course part of the point of games like this is to see which backup players you want to keep.

New arrival Jasmyne Spencer attempts a bicycle kick

Meanwhile up top, Jasmyne Spencer played much of the match at forward in place of McCarty even though she’d joined the team literally just a few hours earlier. So it’s not much of a surprise that the chemistry just wasn’t there.

So while the result has to be worrying, it’s far too soon to draw any dramatic conclusions from it.

The Spirit play their final preseason game Saturday at 7:30 back at the Soccerplex, then open their inaugural season on the road against the Boston Breakers the following Sunday at 6:30 pm at Dilboy Stadium. The game will be streamed on the Internet, though I don’t have the specifics yet.

Photos courtesy of Tony Quinn: http://www.tonyquinnphotos.com.

Other coverage:

Beau Dure: Washington Spirit vs. Maryland Terrapins: Forget about it

The Equalizer/Jennifer Gordon: Maryland Terps up-end Spirit in preseason

Washington Spirit: Spirit slip up against Maryland in first preseason loss

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