Simone Magill and Rebecca Holloway had chances to open the scoring in Bucharest before Maxwell hit a superb opener – which Oxtoby said was a “great strike”.
However, Romania hit back when a defensive mix-up between Ellie Mason and Rachel Dugdale allowed Ciolacu to poke home the equaliser.
Northern Ireland dominated possession but struggled to create many clear-cut chances, and Romania should have won the game in the 91st minute when Ciolacu curled an effort off the woodwork.
The draw, along with Bosnia-Herzegovina’s 5-1 defeat to unbeaten leaders Poland, means Oxtoby’s side remain second in Group B1.
Romania, who lost 4-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and then 1-0 at home to Poland, remain bottom of the group.
“We knew coming away to Romania was going to be difficult. I said it before the game, I thought they were really unlucky against Bosnia,” Australian Oxtoby added.
“I thought they were the better team and their result against Poland shows how good a side they are.”
The sides will meet again at Windsor Park on Tuesday and Oxtoby says “we need to learn from nights like this”.
“There are areas of our game where we’re strong, that we can continue to move forward with, but there are areas of our game that we need to continue to develop.
“This group is on a journey, we’ve said that all along.
“We started the game really well again and we’ll be looking more of the same on Tuesday night.”
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exeter.one newsbite last confirmed 1 day ago by Andy Gray
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