To face a penalty corner is one of the most stressful game situations to be in as a goalkeeper.

To face seven straight penalty corners in less than six minutes as a freshman late in a scoreless battle in a NCAA quarterfinal battle is insane.

Big Ten Freshman of the Year Shelly Meister not only faced the seven penalty corners, she repelled them with increasing vigor and authority.

“My mind was empty,” Meister said. “I was just running on pure adrenaline. I wanted them to come at me. I wanted them bad.”

“She was amazing,” junior defender Becca Main said. “As she was making all of these saves, she’s shouting out instructions, and moving us around. She definitely was not playing like a freshman, she was playing like a fifth year senior.”

Prior to the quarterfinal matchup, Meister read an article from a Massachusetts newspaper citing that the Lady Lions have no weak links, except their freshman goalkeeper Shelly Meister. If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the Lady Lions had one hell of a chain.

“I think she took it personally,” Main said. “That’s probably why she did so well against them.”

With about 15 minutes left in regulation time, UMass had spent the biggest part of the second half firing shots at Meister, and pushing at the Lady Lions’ defense.

“They were in the circle forever,” Meister said. “I was yelling out instructions, and we weren’t going anywhere.”

“I think that they kept pushing us back,” Main said. “They just kept pushing us back, and we weren’t digging our heals in, but I think Shelly turned things around with the penalty corners.”

The Lady Lion defense finally got rattled, and lost their composure, which gave the Minutewomen the penalty corner opportunities.

“I think the defense lost its poise,” Coach Char Morett said. “That’s why we created all those opportunities, but Shelly held us together.”

On the first penalty corner, Meister made her disgust apparent as she and the other three defenders bashed their sticks against the goal.

“You could see her determination,” goal Coach Michelle Brennan said. “She was taking it personally, and it was her they were shooting at.”

They shot at Meister seven times, and she seemed to be unfazed by the Minutewomen’s increasing momentum.

Meister peaked at the seventh stop, and her emotion poured over to the rest of the team.

“It was a real inspiration to us,” Main said. “We figured it couldn’t get any worse than this. She fired us up, and we had to protect her like she was doing for us.”

Meister, in fact, fended off 34 shots on goal, and had 15 saves on the day. It was that 35th shot that turned out to be the doozie.

The Minutewomen scored on a luck goal that crawled across the goal line.

“She was playing so great,” Morett said. “It was a shame that it had to end that way, on a fluke goal.”