After suffering its first loss of the season against UCLA in the Big Ten tournament, Maryland men’s soccer had another chance at Ludwig Field. 

After earning the No. 4-seed in the NCAA tournament and a first-round bye, the Terps earned a date against North Carolina — and it was officially win-or-go-home. 

Maryland avoided a disastrous postseason exit after an undefeated regular season, defeating North Carolina 4-3 in a penalty kick shootout.

Maryland didn’t make any adjustments to their backline at all this year, until Sunday afternoon.

Sophomore defender Jace Clark hurt his leg in their loss to UCLA, so head coach Sasho Cirovski turned the tide and trusted his freshman defender Farouk Cisse to hold down the fort.

The Terps were able to find scoring opportunities in the first half, but couldn’t cash in until late. In the 23rd minute, senior defender Luca Costabile had a dangerous shot from just outside the box, but sailed it over the goal.

Freshman forward Rocket Ritarita has been stellar for the Terps this year and exceeded all expectations. His dominance carried into the postseason, as he made an immediate impact after being subbed into the game 32 minutes in. 

Just two minutes before the half, the forward found the back of the net. Senior forward Sadam Masereka was almost caught offside in front of the box, but he turned around, found a trailing Ritarita, who delivered a bullet to the bottom left corner to give the Terps a one-goal lead. 

Ten minutes after the break, the Tar Heels responded. North Carolina capitalized on Clark’s absence. Nacho Abeal was one-on-one with Cisse. He used hesitation moves before slipping one past Maryland’s Laurin Mack to find the equalizer. 

After a series of foul calls and stoppages, regulation ended in a tie. 

In the seventh minute of overtime, sophomore forward Stephane Njike had the best look, with a shot from outside the right corner of the box, but missed it wide.

In this second-round clash, it was a defensive battle that went to two overtime periods. The Tar Heels had their best chance this period. It was Luca Nikolai from the same spot as Njike, but he also missed it wide right. Maryland’s senior defender Brian St. Martin almost headered it in in the final minute, but Tar Heels’ goalkeeper Andrew Cordes was there to make the stop. 

Two overtime periods were not enough, so this one came down to penalty kicks. North Carolina opened up the scoring, but Maryland fought back. 

Mack had two chances to win it with a save, but couldn’t. Sasho Cirovski surprised everyone when he put in Laurin Mack to seal the deal with the game-winning kick. 

 “I was pretty confident that I was making it because we always practice them,” Mack said. “I felt confident because I was already scoring them in training so I kinda knew what to expect.”  

With the win, the Terps advanced to the third round of the tournament for the first time since 2018, when they won the tournament. Their next match will be against No. 13 UConn.