Men's soccer team falls to Maryland in ACC finals

CARY — It was a valiant effort. Playing a man down for 55 minutes after senior Michael Farfan picked up a red card, the North Carolina men’s soccer team came as close to equalizing Maryland’s one-goal lead as they could.

But it wasn’t in the cards Sunday as Maryland trumped the No. 4-seeded Tar Heels 1-0 in the finals of the ACC Tournament.

“With a man down in the second half, we tried and actually had some very good opportunities,” UNC coach Elmar Bolowich said. “We had plenty of chances to tie the game up or to win it, but we didn’t make the plays on the offensive end and as a result couldn’t come back into the game.”

Maryland’s offense surged early in the first half, challenging UNC’s defense repeatedly until they earned the goal that put them ahead.

In the 14th minute, midfielder Enzo Martinez jumped to block a shot by Maryland’s Matt Kassel and incidentally used his hand to deflect it. A handball was called inside the box, and Kassel confidently tucked the ensuing penalty into the left corner of the goal for what would be the game-winner.

“It wasn’t intentional at all,” Martinez said. “My hand was just beside me. I can’t chop my hand off or do anything with it. The ball just hit me there. I could understand if I raised my hand or something and it was intentional.”

After Farfan picked up his red card, the game took an interesting turn. The Tar Heels returned with a fire and relentlessly attacked the Maryland defense. Bolowich used a steady stream of substitutions to keep his players fresh and forced the Terrapins to take up a defensive strategy.

In the 52nd minute, UNC had its best scoring chance of the game. Sophomore forward Martin Murphy made a move toward goal, juked Maryland goalie Zac MacMath and rocketed a shot from 12 yards out — only to have it blocked by the stomach of Maryland’s Alex Lee.

“Once we made the penalty kick, I think they came out with a little more energy and then, after the red card, even a little bit more risk and aggressiveness,” Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski said. “I think we naturally fell back a bit and got a little more protective, and it wasn’t all by design.”

Shortly after Murphy’s opportunity, freshman striker Robbie Lovejoy came on and provided even more pressure, generating multiple scoring chances and open shots. But every chance came up a little bit short or wide.

“The players that came in did a wonderful job and helped us out to keep that momentum going,” Bolowich said. “You are just trying to create one chance after another to get that tying goal. We were stretching, and Robbie was in a couple of those plays, and it wasn’t fortunate enough on those plays to make a difference on those.”

UNC came close to scoring the tying goal multiple times, but some of its efforts missed by just a foot. But that’s the way the game goes, and goalkeeper Scott Goodwin knows it.

“Earlier this year we had the better day, and today they had the better day,” Goodwin said. “It happens — it’s just the way soccer goes.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.