Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Terps earn tie at Notre Dame; Wolfpack draws with Wake Forest; Clemson wins at North Carolina; Six ACC teams in latest Top 25; UMBC Match at William and Mary Postponed

BALTIMORE, Maryland October 9, 2013 - Terps and Irish play to 1-1 Draw:  All American Patrick Mullins scored with just over 18 minutes left and Keeper Zack Steffan made five spectacular saves as No. 5 Maryland earned a 1-1 draw in double overtime at No. 2 Notre Dame on Tuesday night.  Mullins' blast into the left side of the net was assisted by Mikias Eticha.  The goal was Mullins' sixth of the season and offset a score by the Irish about  13 minutes earlier.  Vince Cicciarelli scored his second goal of the season for Notre Dame, assisted by G. Van De Casteele.  Maryland is now 4-0-2 in the ACC and 5-2-4 overall.  Notre
Dame is now 3-0-3 in the conference and 6-0-4 overall.  Maryland remains tied for the conference lead because co-leader Wake Forest also tied Tuesday night.  Deacons, Wolfpack play to 2-2 tie: Despite two scores by Sean Okoli, No. 15 Wake Forest had to settle for a 2-2 tie in Raleigh, North Carolina on Tuesday night against the North Carolina State Wolfpack.  Okoli's third goal of the campaign gave the Deacons a 1-0 lead at the 25:52 mark of the first half.  But 13 minutes later, Philip Carmon banged home a rebound that resulted from a scrum in front of the Deacon net, and State had a 1-1 tie at the half.  The Wolfpack actually pushed ahead in the game a little over eight minutes into the second half when Michael Bajza scored, assisted by Nick Surkamp.  Okoli's second score of the game and fourth of the season got Wake Forest even at 2-2, and the teams battled through two ten minute overtimes without a goal.  The tie keeps Wake Forest tied for the ACC lead because co-leader Maryland tied at Notre Dame.  Overtime goal enables Clemson to upend North Carolina: Ara Amirkhanian scored for No. 17 Clemson just 1:38 into the first overtime as the Tigers upended No. 12 North Carolina, 2-1, Tuesday night in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The victory improved Clemson's ACC record to 3-2-1 and its overall mark to 8-2-1.  Amirkhanian's score came off of a cross from Austen Burnikel.  The Tigers had grabbed the lead just over a minute into the game when Thomas McNamara banged home a rebound from his own blocked penalty kick.  The referee had called a hands violation on the Tar Heels, but McNamara's penalty kick was initially saved by Tar Heel keeper Brendan Moore.  Despite the loss, Moore had seven saves.  In the 67th minute North Carolina tied the score on a goal by Verneri Valimaa, assisted by Josh Rice and Omar Holness.  North Carolina is now 0-1-5 in the ACC and 3-2-5 overall.  Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech battle to scoreless tie:  The University of Pittsburgh soccer team earned its first point as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tuesday night when it battled Virginia Tech to a scoreless tie.  Playing at home, the Panthers ended a five game conference losing streak.  Duke and Virginia in Scoreless Draw:  After learning earlier that it had cracked the NSCAA Soccer Poll at No. 23, Virginia battled Duke to a scoreless draw.  The result left the Cavaliers at 6-3-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the ACC.  The Cavaliers outshot the Blue Devils by a 23-9 count, but Duke Keeper Alex Long made ten solid saves for the Devils, who are 0-3-3 in the ACC and 4-3-4 overall.  Jeff Gal had three saves for the Cavaliers.  Boston College stops Syracuse, 3-2:  Despite two goals by Syracuse's Emil Ekblom - his seventh and eighth of the season - homestanding Boston College beat back the Orange, 3-2 on Tuesday.  Nick Butler's head shot at 57:52 was the game winner for the Eagles, who improved to 5-3-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the ACC.  Butler's score came off of a corner kick.  Matt Wendelken and Zeiko Lewis were credited with assists.  Earlier, Wendelken and Diego Medina-Mendez had scored for the Eagles, with both coming in the first ten minutes of the game, played at Boston College's home field in Newton, Massachusetts. The Orange fell to 2-4-0 in the ACC and 8-4-0 overall.  Maryland moving up; five other ACC teams in Top 25: After fall all the way to 18th, Maryland continued its march up the national rankings this week.  The Terps are ranked fifth in the latest NSCAA poll, released Tuesday.  Five other ACC schools are with the Terps in those rankings, while UMBC fell only one spot after suffering its only loss of the season last week.  The Retrievers are ranked No. 8 in the poll after being ranked seventh last week.  UMBC lost a heartbreaking 1-0 match against Delaware last midweek, but rebounded wonderfully on Saturday, beating Hartford on the road in their America East Conference opener.  The six ACC teams in the poll are Notre Dame at No. 2, Maryland at No. 5, North Carolina at No. 12, Wake Forest at No. 15, Clemson at No. 17 and Virginia at No. 23.  California, one of the two teams to have beaten Maryland, is again ranked number one.  The Bears let a lead slip away to the Terps in Berkley, but scored a golden goal in overtime to win.  Maryland opened the season with two games in California.  In both, the young Terps allowed the home team to score first.  In the opener at Stanford, they battled back to earn a tie.  In the second game two days later they also battled back furiously, but, as said, lost in overtime.  California is undefeated. and stands at 7-0-3.  Another Pac 12 School, Washington, is behind Notre Dame at No. 3.  The Huskies are 8-0-3.  California and Washington played each other on Sunday in Berkley, with the game ending in a 1-1 tie.  The Huskies battled back to defeat Seattle yesterday in Seattle, 2-0.  California has been idle since Sunday as they prepare for a road trip that will see them play at San Diego State on Thursday and a Pac 12 game at UCLA on Sunday.  The Bears commanded immediate attention at the outset of the season when they tallied wins over Georgetown and Maryland, two of the NCAA's Final Four from last season.  The other top five team is California State - Northridge.  The Matadors are 10-1 with two tournament victories to their credit.  They won their own Ryan Rossi Memorial Tournament at the start of the season, beating Memphis and Albany in the process.  In mid-September they won the Lobo Tournament at New Mexico, beating Central Arkansas and the homestanding Lobos in the process.  The Matadors have also beaten UNLV at Northridge and Bradley at Bradley.  Their only loss came against UCLA on September 22. The Matdors outshot the Bruins, 16-11 but lost, 4-2, in a rough and tumble affair at Northridge that saw the home team issued four yellow cards to one for UCLA.  UCLA is currently ranked number 6.  The Creighton Blue Jays are ranked seventh with a 6-2-2 record.  Creighton, a Nebraska School, plays in the Big East.  They are at Marquette on Saturday and at Michigan on Tuesday.  Their two losses were to William and Mary and St. Louis, both on the road.  UMBC match at William and Mary Postponed; no new date announced:  The eighth ranked UMBC Retrievers have raced to an impressive 10-1-0 record; but everyone pointed to the game at William and Mary as a huge test for the Retrievers.  But after what apparently is a period of heavy rains in Williamsburg, Virginia, the game was postponed.  A release by UMBC said the two schools are seeking to reschedule the game, but no new date has been announced.  The Retrievers play next on Saturday at home when Albany pays a visit.

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