COLLEGE PARK, Maryland November 21, 2015 - Week-long layoffs can do funny things to sports teams. Football teams learn to deal with it because there is almost always a week between games. But basketball, baseball and soccer teams virtually never have to deal with such prolonged periods without competition. When your team is playing well, a layoff is the last thing a coach wants. But Sascho Cirovski got a week without competition because his University of Maryland soccer team earned it. They won the Big Ten Title by advancing past Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State in succession. There was less than 48 hours between the end of the semi-final against Indiana and the start of the final against Ohio State, and the second game, the championship game, was played at Ohio State because the Buckeyes won the Big Ten Regular Season Crown and then, when they beat Penn State in overtime in the quarter-finals, became the highest surviving seed in the semi-finals.
By winning the Big Ten Tournament, Maryland was awarded the Number Ten Seed in the NCAA Turnament. By earning the seed - only the top 16 of the 48 schools in the tournament were seeded - Maryland also earned a first round bye and a home game in the second round. Because of all of this, Maryland stayed in College Park while Virginia hosted Rider in the first round. The Cavaliers defeated the Broncos in a dramatic match, 2-0. The teams were dead even, 0-0, at the half. But Virginia broke through 23 minutes into the second half and looked for all the world like they would take a two goal lead when the referee awarded the Cavaliers a penalty kick near the midway point of the second half. But Virginia could not convert as Bronco Keeper Ryan Baird made the save, one of seven he turned in for the match, and Rider had life. The match moved into the late stages with only one goal separating the teams. Finally, with Rider pushing a large number of players forward, searching for an equalizer, Virginia found an opening for a counter-attack and put the match away.
Now Cirovski had to prepare his team after a seven-day layoff for a Virginia Eleven that had already cut its teeth in the NCAA tournament. No one needed to remind Maryland about the dangers of facing such a team. Just last season, UMBC stunned Maryland in the exact same circumstances and used it as a catapult to the College Cup. Although many of the present team weren't on that team - Maryland has eleven freshmen on its current roster - enough of the squad did remember and they didn't let anyone forget. The result was Maryland coming out and taking immediate control of the game. Although the final score was only 1-0 Maryland, it was one of those soccer games where the score is totally deceiving. The Terps outshot Virginia, 9-3 in the first half and 23-8 for the game, and even those figures are misleading. A veteran onlooker told Credible and Incisive that Virginia really hadn't come close to scoring at anytime in the first half or in the first 20 minutes of the second half. And Credible and Incisive did not see the Cavaliers come close either in the final 25 minutes of the second half. At the other end, Maryland was firing away and had at least three opportunities to bust the game open that for some reason did not result in a goal. One of those shots was cleaned off of the goal line, according to the game official, after it had easily beat the Cavaliers' keeper.
Now Cirovski will have to repeat the feat. Next Sunday, in the round of 16, Maryland will have to travel to South Bend to take on Notre Dame. Maryland will have a current memory to hold on to as it prepares for the Irish. Way back in late August the Terps and Notre Dame collided in Indiana - in Indianapolis to be exact - with the match ending in a scoreless deadlock. It was the opening match for both squads.
No comments:
Post a Comment