Tar Heel defense fails in 2nd half

The North Carolina men's soccer team went into halftime of its ACC Tournament semifinal against Maryland on Saturday with a scoreless tie and feeling pretty good about its chances to make it to the finals.

After taking a 2-1 lead in the second half, things looked even more promising for the Tar Heels.

That's when things fell apart for UNC, as Maryland netted three unanswered goals in a span of 11 minutes.

"First half, I thought we were playing well, and I thought we were going to bring it into the second half and get the win today," senior Tim Merritt said Saturday. "It's disappointing to get four goals scored on us today. It's very sad."

With winds gusting up to 20 mph, Maryland played with the wind at its back in the second half, which seemed to give it a distinct advantage.

Down 2-1, Maryland defender Kenney Bertz, who could easily throw the ball 25 yards, launched a long throw in into the box as Chris Lancos headed it past Tar Heel goalkeeper Ford Williams for the equalizer.

"(The wind) sometimes can be a factor on throw-ins," said UNC coach Elmar Bolowich. "Ford sort of misjudged that ball a little bit."

The wind also seemed to play a factor in other aspects as UNC misplayed balls that held up in the wind.

"That's what I said at halftime - the ball will not end up where you think it will end up," Bolowich said. "It's going to get carried or get stopped. You have to anticipate that depending on the angle and the wind."

For the second consecutive game, North Carolina controlled play in the first half but was unable to take an early lead.

"I don't know what it is," Bolowich said. "I have no answer for that. Sometimes it's frustrating to our team as it is to anybody else."

It wasn't just the wind that caused the UNC defensive collapse in the second half. Maryland brilliantly executed a series of long-balls to set up goals, and the Tar Heels had no answer for Maryland forward Jason Garey.

With the Terps clinging to a 3-2 lead, Lancos served a ball at least 40 yards to Garey, who quickly trapped it and blasted his 19th goal of the season by Williams.

"The difference was that we could not deal with Maryland's quick execution of the long ball, and we got caught twice that resulted in goals," Bolowich said.

"We allowed (Garey) six shots on goal, and he scored two of those. He's a quality forward. We knew about him, we wanted to pay attention to him, but in the end he had the upper hand on us today."

With the Tar Heels set to play George Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, UNC knows it must improve defensively in order to have a chance at making a serious run at the title.

"(We need to) make sure we are staying compact, not getting stretched out too much," Merritt said.

"Today we didn't make the right decisions in crucial parts of the field, and that led to some goals."

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.