After battling the heat 20 minutes longer than anticipated Monday afternoon, Maryland men’s soccer goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair laid motionless on his stomach when the final whistle blared at Shaw Field.

One of four Terps who played the entire game at Georgetown, the redshirt junior needed an additional minute to relax and exhale after facing more than 20 shots for the first time in his college career.

With another poor offensive performance, the Terps’ only hope was to keep the Hoyas off the board and hold on for a draw. So while coach Sasho Cirovski used a season-high seven substitutes, St. Clair and three other defensive-minded players were never taken off the field.

Defenders Johannes Bergmann and Donovan Pines and defensive midfielder Andrew Samuels played the full 110 minutes, as Maryland relied on its workhorses to secure its fifth shutout.

“Our defending overall was very good,” Cirovski said. “But Johannes and Donovan were outstanding … and I thought Andrew Samuels was really outstanding as our center defensive midfielder throughout the whole game.”

[Read more: Maryland men’s soccer holds on for scoreless draw at Georgetown]

St. Clair’s workload — he’s played every minute since the start of last season — is to be expected for a goalkeeper. But Pines, Bergmann and Samuels are the only other players who have logged more than 1,000 minutes this year.

While Ben and Matt Di Rosa — the starting outside defenders Monday — were each given 15 minutes on the bench, Cirovski kept the heart of the backline on the field.

[Read more: Maryland men’s soccer couldn’t pull out a win in front of program royalty]

After completing their fifth overtime game on Monday, the four team leaders in playing time all average 95 minutes per contest. The group hasn’t let that workload affect them, ranking 26th in the nation with a 0.76 goals against average.

Despite the Hoyas’ overwhelming shot total, St. Clair only needed to make seven saves to keep them from scoring during a sloppy game that neither side deserved to win.

Pines and Bergmann played a large role in stymying the Hoyas inside the box, making St. Clair’s job easier as one of the best center back duos in the country.

“This entire season, those guys have been rock solid,” St. Clair said. “It’s not the expectation from them, but it’s the standard that they’ve built for themselves and the standard that they hold themselves accountable to.”

At 6-foot-5, Pines wishes he could start using his size to contribute on the offensive end, especially on set pieces. It would be a boon to an attacking unit that averages less than a goal per game and has been shut out six times already.

Pines hasn’t scored yet this season, but the junior has led the backline all year and blocked countless shots and crosses from the Hoyas on Monday.

“Blocking shots in fun for me,” he said. “It’s like scoring a goal. I feel really good when I get the ball out, have a clearance with my head or something like that.”

Maryland has relied heavily on Pines to anchor its defense, which has preserved three scoreless draws this season. Slip ups in any of those contests could have added three more losses to the Terps’ resume.

Still awaiting the return of defender Chase Gasper — who has now missed six games with a back injury — Maryland will continue to depend on strong play from St. Clair, Samuels and its elite center backs.

“We have large respect for one another,” Pines said. “We all love each other and fight for each other. We have a great group of guys in the back and we’re all committed to defending.”