Big ACC Showdown: UNC at UMD On Saturday night the University of Maryland will host the University of North Carolina in a match that has major implications on the regular season ACC Championship. Each team comes in with one loss so realistically the loser is eliminated from the race. In this league if you can't finish first, second isn't bad because you draw NC St in the first round of the tournament and that's an almost certain trip to the semifinal. UMD will certainly come in with something to prove after a lackluster effort in losing 3-0 to Wake Forest last weekend and having had a whole week to think about it. I don't predict scores, just a UMD victory. GO TERPS!
Big ACC Showdown: UNC at UMD I got busy, but for the first time tuned in to the UMD live broadcast, gotta say if you can't make the game, go to the UMD site and tune in. Have to say its great! Check it out.
And so it goes Noah Palmer a force to be reckoned with North Carolina 1 0 - 1 #6 Maryland 2 1 - 3 Last play: End of period [90:00].
Big ACC Showdown: UNC at UMD Yea, right down to the wire. Twenty seconds left, NC pressing all eleven up and the big save by Noah, and then the quick counter attack and gooooal! Can't get any better than that.
What a game This was one of those games that if you missed the first 10 minutes you missed the game. UMD came out with high preesure and took the ball off U-23 David Stokes foot at the top of the box and Nino Marcantonio blasted it home for a 1-0 UMD lead with 5 minutes gone. Five minutes later Ian Rodway headed a ball across the box to Sumid Ibrahim who caught UNC GK Ford Williams off his line and lobed the header over him for the second goal. UNC fought hard for the rest of the match but down 2-0 at UMD before 3000 plus fans was too much to overcome. UNC was given hope at 36 minutes when UMD's Ian Rodway saved a ball on his end line leaving a quick open shot for UNC's Ray Fumo from about 3 yards out. That made it 2-1 but UMD's defensive group held the fort the rest of the way. One intriging match-up was UNC's Ryan Kneipper and UMD's Clarence Goodson. I'm sure neither player sees an opponent near their own size very often, they are 6'3" and 6'4" respectively. Kneipper has been UNC's top scorer for the past two seasons and the MVP of last years Final Four. Goodson was UMD's second leading scorer as a freshman in 2000 before sitting out last year. He was converted to center back the day before UMD's first exhibition game this year. This was a 90 minute battle, Kneipper had a 45 pound weight advantage but somehow Goodson hung in there and held him to one shot for the game and it was not on goal. Kneipper probably had a little of the better of the battle but it was close enough that UNC really couldn't consistently play through him. With all of 5-6 weeks experience as a defender Goodson did himself proud. I understand that this is UMD's first win over UNC since 1998 and the first win a home since 1996 so this was a huge win for the program. UNC has now suffered it's second conference loss so they are probably eliminated from the regular season conference title picture. This win keeps UMD in the thick of things for now at 3-1 in the conference. Georgetown is up next for UMD on Wednesday followed by a major national showdown at Uconn this Saturday night. UMD stands at 9-2 now and was ranked #6 nationally last week. GO TERPS!
Re: What a game Rodway was really upset with himself over this. When he was subbed out after this goal it was good to see so many UMD players on the bench and Sasho himself pat him on the back and tell him not to worry about it. The terps have good team spirit.
Re: Re: What a game Ian Rodway is one of the most respected players on the team and his mistake was mental but he was hustling all the way. Obviously he is a smart player who just forgot for a moment where he was on the field. UMD's success has been a team effort this year and Rodway continues to be a big part of it.