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Division I NCAA men's tournament King's two goals send Maryland to 3-1 win over St. John's.
SoccerTimes COLLEGE PARK, Md. (Sunday, November 27, 2005) -- Maryland's second-half adjustments proved to be the difference in the No. 2 Terrapins' 3-1 triumph over 16th-ranked St. John's in an NCAA Division I tournament third-round match this afternoon. However, if it weren't for a little late help from the woodwork, Maryland's best plans might have gone for naught before 2,400 at Ludwig Field. Sophomore midfielder Stephen King's second goal proved to be the difference, putting Maryland (17-4-1) ahead for good 2-1 at 62:52, but the Terps' advantage survived only for a matter of millimeters. Red Storm senior midfielder Andre Schmid worked free in the penalty area and banged a header off the crossbar with nine minutes remaining. "When I saw the ball go to Andre, I thought it was (going in)," St. John's senior midfielder Matt Groenwald said. "I think we did everything perfectly, but the crossbar wasn't an inch higher." Coach Sasho Cirovski was more than glad to accept a little luck to go with his team's strong performance. "Look, you have to get some breaks," he said. "If that goal goes in, it makes it a completely different game and we caught a break at that point in time. We had some chances on our end that we didn't capitalize on. . . In the build-up of this game I said that it was going to come down to making big plays at key moments in the game, and I thought, at the end of the day, we had more big plays than St. John's today." Freshman midfielder Robbie Rogers scored into an open net with eight seconds remaining to ice the result, sending the Terps to a quarterfinal home game against No. 3 Akron. The visiting Zips squandered leads of 2-0 and 3-2, but eliminated fifth-ranked Connecticut 4-3 in penalty kicks after the match ended 3-3. Maryland and St. John's (11-6-5) played a wide-open first half with both teams creating numerous chances to score. Both goalkeepers -- Terps freshman Chris Seitz and Red Storm sophomore Jason Landers - came up big on multiple occasions -- while each conceded one goal. After intermission, the Terps throttled the St. John's attack with Schmid's header off the goal frame the Red Storm's only creditable chance to score. "Most of the adjustments were in the attack, not where we defended," Cirovski said. "I thought the defending was still pretty good. We had to make sure our midfielders rotated a lot quicker -- our wide midfielders, in transition, dropped a lot more into the middle because sometimes (St. John's) was shooting three guys into the midfield. "We adjusted the roles of our wide midfielders and it helped us cover some of the open spaces. . . I thought in the second half, we really took the game over. We came out with an aggressive mentality."
"I really don't miss too many of those," said Garey who is second in Division I with 20 goals. "I was right at the top of the box and had a good look at it. I saw the keeper coming out and I tried to slip it under him and I think it went about two or three inches wide. It didn't miss by much. That's how it goes sometimes. You have to keep shooting it every time you get a chance. It really didn't bother me that much. We won the game. If we'd lost the game, I'd be pretty upset." In the 52nd minute, U.Md. again came close again when senior striker Marc Burch drilled a 20-yarder that handcuffed Landers, who had dropped quickly to his left. The rebound went to King, who mis-hit it and watched the ball skip past Garey. King didn't miss Burch's centering pass six minutes later. Burch worked deep into the left corner and sent a long cross to King, who nailed a 12-yarder into the left corner of the net with his first touch for his 14th tally of 2005. "Marc made a good move on the left side and cut it back -- and we've worked on that all week in practice -- get the ball to the end line and cut it back across the box," said Garey, who was in position to score if King hadn't. "King is so good at finishing those. He's always in the right place at the right time and he always gets them on goal. . . I was about to kick it, but he had a better angle." Maryland continued to control matters until its one breakdown in the 81st minute. St. John's senior defender Jeff Carroll raced into the right corner and sent a long cross to the far post where Schmid was open to beat Seitz, but not the crossbar, with his header. "I thought it was tied," St. John's coach Dave Masur said. "It happened pretty quick. It was a great ball by Jeff who got forward and really played a tremendous ball. Andre got up and really got a great header on it. It was a shame it didn't go into the goal." Two minutes after sending a header wide left, Burch recorded the first of his two assists to put the Terps up 1-0. Rogers crossed into the box where Burch laid the ball back to King for a 12-yard blast into the right side of the net. Four minutes later, Landers kept the Red Storm deficit at one when he slid out to deny Burch, who had intercepted a weak St. John's back-pass and gone in alone on goal. Next it was Seitz's turn to excel, stopping a close-in drive by senior midfielder Sebastian Alvarado-Ralph, the recipient of a cross by midfielder Tony Beltran. Maryland had difficulty containing Beltran throughout the opening 45 minutes and the freshman's cross two minutes later allowed the Red Storn to pull even at 1-1. Groenwald ducked to redirect Beltran's cross into Sebastian Alvarado-Ralph's path and he nailed his fifth goal of the season into the left corner with 19:35 elapsed. In the 27th minute, Landers kept the game tied when he went to the top right corner of his net to rob Garey. "I don't think we gave up that many chances. We were well prepared," Landers said. "But they finished the chances they got and their keeper came up big." Soon after, Seitz made a quick reaction save on Alvarado-Ralph, who was on the end of still another Beltran cross. In the 40th minute, Red Storm senior defender Billy Hole took a touch from Groenwald, but Seitz came flying out to deflect the ball away. "St. John's is a great team -- I think they are one of the toughest outs in college soccer," Cirovski said. "There's not a lot of separation between the two teams. I look at the personnel and see a lot of ourselves in them."
Gary Davidson is SoccerTimes managing editor. E-mail Gary Davidson. Do you have a comment on this story or something to say about soccer in general? Send us a letter. |
