The Terrapins defeated the Tar Heels in a tightly contested game in Chapel Hill. The game featured five ties and three lead changes until midway through the 3rd quarter when the Terps went on a 5-0 run. Joe Walters led the way for Maryland with an impressive five goal performance, accentuated by some tremendous plays in the riding game. Carolina’s offense got a spark from freshman Ben Hunt who recorded his first two career goals, including a cannon into the top right corner on EMO.
During the first quarter, the two teams were definitely feeling each other out as the game had a very slow pace in both halves. The only goal of the quarter came on a fast break, when Maryland longpole Ryan Clarke found Joe Walters who finished low to high. The Terps had more chances in the quarter, but Carolina goalie Grant Zimmerman recorded five saves in the period to prevent the Terps from pulling ahead.
UNC attackman Ryan Blair evened the score early in the second on a spectacular diving goal. Having received the ball at X in a slow break situation, Blair recognized his man was playing a little too far off him and attacked the cage, diving for the finish past Terp goalie Harry Alford. A few minutes later, Walters gave the Terps a 2-1 advantage on an unassisted goal of an iso. The Tar Heels then went ahead when Rob Driscoll scored an opportunistic goal and Ben Hunt ripped a shot on man-up. It seemed the Heels would go into the half with a one goal lead, but Walters finished a feed from Brendan Healy with only five seconds left in the half to knot the game at 3-3.
The Terps took an early lead in the third on a very pretty unselfish goal. Billy McGlone iso-ed from behind to the right side of the cage, drawing a double and feeding Mike Phipps on the back pipe – Phipps passed up a low angle shot and found Max Ritz cutting from the high crease for the dunk. Carolina again answered a Terp lead with a two goal run to take a 5-4 advantage. Hunt uncorked another heater off a feed from Brian Connors to tie, and Connors scored an unassisted effort to take the lead.
The Terps responded to the one goal deficit by running off five unanswered goals between the middle of the third and late in the fourth quarter. McGlone again found Phipps off a dodge and double – this time Phipps had an angle and fired it home. A few minutes lates, Max Ritz iso-ed from X and finished. Walters scored the final goal of the third on EMO from Healy.
Terp FOGO David Tamberrino was assessed a 1-minute stick violation to start the fourth, but Maryland’s man-down held and avoided giving one back. Walters scored the next goal after intercepting a clearing pass near the midfield line and attacking all the way across the field before finishing a right hander past Zimmerman. The Terps final goal came on man-up when Xander Ritz found a cutting McGlone to make the scored 9-5. UNC scored one more late, when Ryan Blair fired a feed through traffic to a cutting Bart Wagner.
This game was very hotly contested throughout, but the Terps run in the 2nd half solidified the road victory. The Heels out-groundballed and out-shot the Terps, but struggled with their accuracy, putting only 14 of 41 shots on the cage, and unfortunately for Heel fans, Alford made some spectacular saves when the ball was on net. Credit the Terp D for keeping Carolina out of their comfort zone and forcing another team to settle for low percentage shots.
More pictures up soon…
North Carolina vs. Maryland
| Current Record | |
|---|
| North Carolina | 2-7 |
| Current Record | |
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| Maryland | 6-1 |
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