Maryland grabs late winner to defeat North Carolina

It was a rematch from last years national championship in Dallas.  This time the site was at Maryland where a record crowd of almost 7000 were on hand and the two teams put on quite a show.  North Carolina did a nice job of controlling the ball in the opening half while Maryland looked more direct.  The result was an end to end battle at breakneck speed.

In the 30th minute it looked like Maryland had taken the lead off a corner kick as Billy Cortes headed a ball on net.   Cameron Brown was on the post for North Carolina and narrowly cleared the ball off the line.  The rebound was smashed just wide and the match stayed scoreless. 

Only moments later play shifted to the other end where Billy Schuler got on the end of a cross in the 6 yard box deflecting the ball on frame.  Maryland keeper Zac McMath made a wonderful reaction save to keep the ball out of the goal and game went to halftime 0-0.

The second half slowed down as neither team was able to continue the frenetic pace of the opening half.  Billy Schuler continued to be give the Maryland defense fits and in the 52nd minute he got past Kevin Tangney who fouled him in the box for a penalty.  Schuler stepped up to the jeers of the large Maryland crowd and promptly put the penalty kick wide right.

The match looked destined for overtime until the dying minutes when with only 2 minutes to play Zac McMath took a long free kick flighting a 60 yard ball into the North Carolina box.  A Carolina defender rose and won the ball but put the header directly into the middle of the area where Kevin Tangney put a looping header over the keeper and into the net for the winner.

The Terrapins improved to 5-1-1 and 2-0-1 in the ACC with the victory, while the Tar Heels dropped to 5-1-1 and 2-1-0 in league action with their first loss of the season.