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.