By: Wesley Schnell
Following a convincing win against LIU in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Maryland men’s soccer faced off against No. 8 Wake Forest in North Carolina in its second round matchup.
A strong defensive outing by the Demon Deacons lead them to a 2-1 victory ending the Terps’ season.
The action started in the 11th minute when Wake Forest defender Amoni Thomas took the game’s first shot. Maryland keeper Laurin Mack came up with the save, but he was unable to come up with a save on the next one.
Just a minute after the first shot attempt, Demon Deacons’ defender Prince Amponsah found Dylan Borso in the clear and his shot hit nothing but the netting. Borso’s goal gave Wake Forest an early 1-0 lead over the Terps.
Albi Ndrenika attempted Maryland’s first shot but it landed into the hands of Demon Deacon keeper Trace Alphin.
The Deacons put heavy pressure on Mack and the Terps defense early as they put up three straight shots in the 19th minute, but they withstood the onslaught and kept the deficit at one.
The Terps got off a couple of more shots later in the half but had a hard time putting them on target. All of their shots were either blocked or missed the net completely and soared out of play.
In the 42nd minute, beautiful ball movement and a brilliant shot by Max Rogers set up the equalizer for the Terps. Rogers’ shot rocketed into the top left corner from outside the box and tied the game at one goal a piece.
Rogers’ goal put an end to a half that was dominated by the Wake Forest offensive which took nine shots compared to just five for Maryland.
The game started to get physical five minutes into the second half as Wake Forest earned the game’s first two yellow cards.
The Demon Deacons dominated the early portion of the second half continuing to rack up multiple shot attempts and putting heavy pressure on the Terps’ defensive front. They eventually cashed in on that pressure scoring the game winning goal in the 63rd minute.
Freshman midfielder Joel Torbic found fellow midfielder Cooper Flax who slotted the ball into the bottom right of the goal for the go-ahead score.
Maryland tried to fight back later in the half, but most of its shot attempts were spoiled by Wake Forest defenders putting their bodies in front of the keeper to deflect away the Terps’ attempts.
In the 77th minute, Rogers had a good look at a possible equalizer but Alphin came up with the clutch save to keep the Deacons in front.
Colin Griffin and Matias de Jesus had a couple good looks on goal but the Wake Forest defense came up big yet again blocking both.
The Terps took eight shots in the second half but only one of them was on target.
The Demon Deacons’ defense remained strong throughout the game stopping most of Maryland’s shot attempts before they even reached the keeper.
After a blazing hot start to the season for the Terps and then going cold towards the end — including a first round exit in the Big Ten tournament — Maryland’s season ends with second round exit for the fourth time in the past six years.
