Men's soccer tightens up defense in second half

In the No. 2 North Carolina men’s soccer team’s first three games, UNC’s defense conceded a total of one goal, but Friday night against No. 18 Maryland, the Tar Heels gave up two goals in the first half.

Hunkering down in the second half, the Tar Heels kept the game tied at 2-2 for the remainder of the game and overtime, forcing a tie for the second time this season.

“With the way we were defending in the first half, I thought we might give up six,” coach Carlos Somoano said. “(I was) very disappointed with the two goals we conceded. It’s very unlike us.”

“But we cleared that up a little bit in the second half.”

Led by redshirt junior goalkeeper Brendan Moore’s three second-half saves, the Tar Heels found a way to shut out the Maryland offense after halftime despite giving up 13 shots in the second half and overtime periods — the same number as the Tar Heels had for the entire game.

But Somoano said Moore’s saves weren’t the only way he impacted the game.

“What he did exceptionally well was deal with cross balls because that’s Maryland’s thing,” Somoano said. “They’ll get it and they serve and they’ll get it and they’ll serve again.

“You don’t even really have time to step out and close them down because they’re not waiting that long.”

With such consistent attacking from the Terrapins in the first half, Maryland exposed UNC’s out-of-position defenders, which led to two goals from sophomore forward Schillo Tshuma.

UNC junior defender Jordan McCrary gave credit to Maryland for its offense, but didn’t say the Terrapins caught his team off guard.

“They’ve got some big boys that are quick, and you’ve just got to be ready for the long ball, drop off and defend,” McCrary said.

“There were just a few instances where we weren’t in the right spot.”

Moore said that discussing organization defensively during halftime helped plug the holes and added that increased focus on his part helped prevent “soft goals” like the ones the team gave up in the first half.

This intensified focus on Moore’s half was most apparent late in the game when the Terrapins had their best scoring of the half.

After a ball was served into the box, Maryland managed to get a shot off. Moore blocked it.

As the ball rolled around in the over populated 18-yard box, the ball found another Terrapin’s feet, and yet another shot was rifled at Moore.

He blocked it away again with one thing on his mind.

“Keep the ball out of the goal,” Moore said. “In that moment you have to hope you’re in the right position and trust yourself to make the save.”

While Maryland’s ability to get a lot of players in the box to create chaos for goalkeepers made Moore’s job difficult, he was able to keep the ball out of the back of the net for the last 75 minutes of the game.

But that’s not good enough for Moore.

“I’m a little disappointed,” Moore said. “It’s a point, but I think we could have gotten out of it with a win.”

sports@dailytarheel.com