Tar Heels, Terrapins draw big ACC soccer match

Although the majority of the world calls the sport “football,” the fate of North Carolina’s men’s soccer team depended heavily on hands in its Friday evening matchup against No. 3 Maryland.

Goalkeeper Scott Goodwin’s hands, specifically, provided four crucial saves when it seemed Maryland had overwhelmed the UNC defenders.

But it was an errant Terrapin hand in the Maryland box that paved the way for a successful Tar Heel penalty kick, allowing UNC to walk away with the 1-1 draw in a physical, double-overtime match.

“Today’s game was at very high intensity level,” coach Carlos Somoano said. “It was legitimately maybe the top two teams in the country going at each other, and that’s physically exhausting.”

For UNC, the most disappointing aspect of its play was perhaps its failure to cash in on its 23 shots and its second-half personnel advantage following Maryland defender London Woodberry’s ejection.

The Tar Heels’ first chance came seven minutes into the match when junior forwards Ben Speas and Billy Schuler fired off multiple point-blank shots from within a scrum of defenders, all of which Maryland deflected. Speas again missed narrowly on two shots in quick succession in the 31st and 32nd minutes.

At halftime, Speas retired to the locker room having single-handedly outshot Maryland 5-2.

The Terrapins attacked aggressively but lacked potency without fleet-footed midfielder Sunny Jane, who sat out because of a red card against Duke in Maryland’s last match.

Maryland began the second half with five shots and a John Stertzer goal in the first seven minutes. Stertzer, who has scored 12 times this season, poked a throw-in past Goodwin in a crowded box in the 51st minute.

“It’s one of those goals that happens,” Goodwin said. “(It’s) unfortunate, but you have to move on and not dwell on it. We did a good job of responding to it, and you have to give the guys credit for keeping up the pressure.”

Goodwin and the Tar Heel defense then managed to survive a barrage of shots from the Terrapins, many of which slipped wide or high by slim margins.

“I don’t think (Maryland) caught us off guard,” Somoano said. “I think we came out with a good energy in the second half. They’re just very good on set pieces, their long throw-ins. They keep it alive, and that’s their thing.”

Following Woodberry’s hand ball in the 61st minute, Enzo Martinez took the penalty kick and fired it into the upper left corner to equalize for the Tar Heels, who from then on enjoyed a one-man advantage.

Although UNC would fail to capitalize on any of its 14 second-half shots, its defensive efforts limited Maryland to just 10 shots through 110 minutes of play.

“I couldn’t have asked any more from the back five,” Goodwin said. “They’ve been solid all year, and tonight was just unbelievable. All of them played exceptional.”

It became clear in the later minutes of overtime that Maryland, undermanned and fatigued, would be happy to sit back on their side of the pitch and settle for a tie. The Tar Heels, however, were not.

“Obviously we always want to come out with the ‘W,’” Speas said. “The guys worked tremendously hard, and we’re not satisfied with a tie at all.

“We’re definitely always pushing for a win, but we’ll take the positives from it and move forward. You know that come tournament time, we’ll be ready.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.