St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s women’s soccer team opened its season with a comeback win Tuesday, rallying from a halftime deficit to beat Hood College 2-1 at Jamie L. Roberts Stadium.
Hood’s Anais Esparza, scoring her first collegiate goal, put the Blazers ahead in the 36th minute, and the visitors carried a 1-0 lead into the break despite SMCM holding a 6-4 shot advantage in the first half. The Seahawks flipped the momentum after halftime, limiting Hood to a single shot while earning four corner kicks. Senior Allie Petryszak headed home a Sidney Shaw assist in the 64th minute to level the score, and Reagan Chilton put SMCM ahead for good in the 82nd minute. SMCM finished with commanding advantages across the board — 11 shots to Hood’s five, seven shots on goal to two, and five corners to two. Goalkeeper Breanna Brown made one save in a full 90 minutes; Hood’s Marlie DeRenzis, playing her own collegiate debut, made four.
The win opens a new season for a program coming off its best year in recent memory. SMCM went 13-6-3 in 2025, capturing the program’s first-ever perfect United East Conference regular season at 8-0-0, before falling 2-0 in penalty kicks to Penn State Harrisburg in the conference championship following a 2-2 double-overtime draw. Head coach Peter Krech, a 2009 SMCM alumnus now in his 13th season, passed a personal milestone during that run, picking up his 100th career win on Oct. 21 to improve to 100-83-28 overall since the program’s founding in 1993.
Petryszak, who scored Tuesday’s equalizer, enters the season as the reigning United East Defensive Player of the Year after anchoring a Seahawks defense that posted 10 shutouts last season, third-best in the conference, on her way to Second Team All-Region IV honors.
St. Mary’s returns to action Friday, Sept. 4, to open the Seahawk Classic.
