Although they’ve maintained an unbeaten record and a four-week grip on the No. 1 ranking in men’s soccer, the Maryland Terrapins have had to execute several narrow escapes.
There is no doubting the bounty of talent and capacity to end an eight-year drought without a national trophy, yet vulnerabilities have surfaced time and again, requiring late strikes and overtime heroics.
Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over American University at Ludwig Field in College Park had a familiar look until sophomore Gordon Wild scored a sweet tiebreaking goal in the 70th minute. The Terrapins (12-0-2) won their ninth straight, improved to 9-0-0 at home and closed within three matches of their first undefeated regular season in 48 years.
“We once again found the resolve to come out and win the game,” Coach Sasho Cirovski said. “They challenged us. They were dangerous. . . . Look, our goal isn’t to be undefeated; we want to win a national championship. This is all part of the growth in the process. There are still things we have to be better at. We’re still finding ways to win games. When you are 12-0-2, it’s hard to be too upset.”
Wild, the co-leading scorer in the country last year while playing for South Carolina-Upstate, put a defender on his heels at the top of the penalty area, cut inside and ripped an 18-yard shot to the far side for his team-best 11th goal of the year.
“I tried to shake him a little bit to create some space,” Wild said. “Once I cut it to my left, I just shot it because in the first half I had two similar situations and I was thinking too much: Should I go left or right? As a striker, you have to be determined in what you do.”
The victory came four days after the Terrapins needed an 88th-minute equalizer and 98th-minute winner to spoil Wisconsin’s upset bid and clinch the Big Ten regular season title. Earlier this season, Maryland survived scares against Georgetown, Rutgers and Penn State.
The Eagles, who are second in the Patriot League, fell to 7-5-3 but took solace in their ability to generate several quality chances.
“I told our guys at halftime that if you’re an outsider and didn’t know who the number one team was, you wouldn’t know,” Eagles Coach Todd West said. “We’re pretty close.”
They had a chance to tie with 54 seconds left, but Cody Niedermeier cut down Panos Nakhid’s shooting angle and blocked the close-range bid with his midsection. The shot came at such force, it left a detailed red imprint of the patterned ball on Niedermeier’s stomach and knocked the wind out of him for about 30 seconds.
“I couldn’t breathe,” he said. “I tried to cut the angle and get big and hopefully it hits me somewhere — maybe the face, this time the stomach.”
Maryland had gone ahead in the 27th minute. Amar Sejdic combined with Jake Rozhansky and, upon recollecting the ball, Sejdic lashed a 25-yard shot that dipped past diving goalkeeper Lucas Belanger and into the right corner for his sixth goal.
The Eagles answered seven minutes later. Chris Fanet beat Sejdic and Suli Dainkeh to Tim Neumann’s long ball and directed a 10-yard header past Niedermeier.
The Eagles threatened four times in the first 15 minutes after intermission, foiled by Niedermeier, the crossbar and two close calls. Maryland labored to sustain quality possession until Wild’s go-ahead strike.
“We definitely have some improving to do,” Niedermeier said, “and there’s another level we have yet to reach.”
VIRGINIA 3, WILLIAM & MARY 0: Edward Opoku and Jean-Christophe Koffi scored about three minutes apart in the first half and Wes Wade tacked on a late goal as the No. 16 Cavaliers (8-2-4) ran their unbeaten streak to seven by downing the visiting Tribe (7-6-2), which was left with 10 men in the first half after a red card.
VIRGINIA TECH 0, CHARLOTTE 0: In Blacksburg, Va., the No. 23 Hokies (8-3-3) earned a nonconference draw against the ninth-ranked 49ers (8-2-1).
