Maryland Wins Second NCAA Men's Soccer Title in Four Years

FRISCO, Tex., Dec. 14 -- About 10 minutes after Maryland won its second NCAA men's soccer championship in four years Sunday with a 1-0 victory over North Carolina, the delirious Terrapins were called individually to collect their trophies at the center circle.

The order was alphabetical, which meant the player responsible, first and foremost, for a weekend of celebrations would be summoned last: Graham Zusi.

Maryland's College Cup conquest was a collective effort, from freshman goalkeeper Zac MacMath's consecutive shutouts to the backline's mistake-free performances. But Zusi, a senior midfielder who went six weeks without a goal midway through the season, was the one who provided the breathtaking free kick that beat St. John's in the second overtime of Friday's semifinal and the second-half goal against the Tar Heels.

Only three goals were scored in the three games here, and Zusi had two of them, both expertly taken, to earn the offensive MVP award before an announced crowd of 6,594 at Pizza Hut Park.

"For a program that has done so much in the past decade, this team just set the gold standard," said Terrapins Coach Sasho Cirovski, whose second-seeded squad (23-3) set school records for consecutive victories (16), shutouts (15) and overall wins, and captured the program's third national title.

Zusi shattered a scoreless deadlock against the 13th-seeded Tar Heels (15-8-1) with a one-timer from 18 yards in the 67th minute, capping a personal resurgence that began Halloween night with a goal at Virginia. After going scoreless in 11 straight games, the Florida native scored five times in the last 10 outings and had three goals in five NCAA tournament matches.

On Sunday, with the match tilting in Maryland's favor, Jeremy Hall's shot was blocked by a defender and caromed toward the top of the penalty area. In stride, Zusi drove a low shot between diving goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty and the left post for his sixth goal of the year and 28th of his career.

As part of the game preparations, the coaching staff had noticed a tendency by the Tar Heels to leave redirected balls unattended around the top of the penalty area. For Zusi, it was another opportunity to decide a game with a shot from distance. Two days earlier, he whipped a free kick from 26 yards past the St. John's wall and a soaring goalie.

Without any pressure from the Tar Heels, Zusi delivered his shot with power and precision.

"I thought the ball was shielded from the goalie because there was a defender and Jeremy right in front of me. I just tried to curl it around," said Zusi, who, as a freshman, scored the opening goal in a 4-1 semifinal victory over Southern Methodist.

"He had all the time in the world to just place the ball," said Haggerty, who played brilliantly in Friday's upset of top-seeded Wake Forest and made two quality saves against the Terrapins.

Maryland's defense did the rest, recording its seventh shutout in eight postseason games and 10th since the last loss, a 5-3 decision at Clemson on Oct. 3 that dropped the Terrapins into the middle of the ACC standings.

Four minutes after the goal, MacMath made an excellent foot save on Michael Callahan's angled bid. MacMath grabbed every high ball sent into the penalty area while the backline, anchored by defensive MVP and Dallas native Omar Gonzalez, "didn't give us many looks uncontested close to the goal," UNC Coach Elmar Bolowich said.

"From about the eight-minute mark, I was counting down every minute and, when it got down to two, I was hoping they wouldn't get any more chances," defender A.J. Delagarza said. "We knew they were going to put everything into it, but we really stopped them from getting anything."

After MacMath smothered the Tar Heels' final offering and Maryland cleared a last-second long ball, a party that didn't seem possible 10 weeks ago was officially under way.

"There was a time in the middle of this year [after the Clemson loss], we weren't sure we had the fiber of a champion," Cirovski said. "We challenged our guys. They not only bought into it, they exceeded every expectation I had for them."

College Cup Notes: Gonzalez was named a first-team all-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. . . . Gonzalez and Hall, both juniors, said they will weigh professional options this winter. Sophomore defender Rodney Wallace might also consider leaving early. . . . Next year's College Cup will be held in Cary, N.C., near Raleigh. Box Score, E6