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The Daily Tar Heel

Maryland holds off UNC men’s soccer down a player

It’s safe to say the North Carolina men’s soccer team has been a second-half team.

Before Friday night, the Tar Heels had outscored opponents 21 to four in the second half this season.

But even with a one-man advantage for nearly 50 minutes in the second half and overtime against No. 3 Maryland, UNC couldn’t break the 1-1 tie.

“Obviously, playing a man up, you have an advantage,” junior forward Ben Speas said. “We wanted to take that opportunity. We didn’t. I thought we still played well. We know what we need to do in the future.”

North Carolina gained its player advantage on a red card issued to London Woodberry in the 61st minute, and its equalizing goal on the subsequent penalty kick.

With the goal keeper out of position to the left, the ball ended up at the feet of Billy Schuler after a handful of deflections.

Schuler’s shot was stopped by what the referee deemed an illegal handball by Woodberry.

For the remainder of the game North Carolina outshot the Terrapins 10-3. Since Maryland was a player down, UNC controlled much of the possession and forced the remaining Terrapins to intensify their focus defensively.

Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, the tighter Maryland packed it in, the harder it became for the Tar Heels to fight through.

“It was tough getting through them, and I felt like in the second half, I was running all over the place, (and I) wasn’t really getting any touches. (It’s) definitely hard to play against a packed defense,” Schuler said.

“We were just looking, looking, looking, and it never happened.”

This is a familiar story for the Tar Heels, as a string of recent opponents – including Davidson, who beat UNC 1-0 last Monday – have bunched up their defense in front of the goal as a strategy for the whole game.

“The way Maryland defended, they didn’t intend to. It wasn’t a game plan,” coach Carlos Somoano said. “It was just hard to keep up with us at that point. I think there is a big difference between getting a team backed up … opposed to just sitting and using that as a game plan against us. Either way it’s hard to score.”

Somoano, though, was not disheartened by the tie with Maryland. The outcome leaves the Terrapins atop the conference rankings with 13 points, Wake Forest in second with 12 and the Tar Heels close behind in third with 11.

“I’m proud of the way we played the entire game, but obviously I feel like there was a missed opportunity,” he said.

“It’s a game you’ve got to come out and find a way to win. That’s what we tried to do. We tried really hard. I don’t feel down about our performance at all. Maryland is an exceptionally good team.”

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