No. 2 seed Maryland extended its winning streak to 13 games. Creighton and North Carolina won in overtime. Indiana beat Michigan, 3-0, in a battle of Big Ten foes. South Florida needed penalty kicks to oust upstart UNC Greensboro. St. John’s edged Big West champion UC Irvine, 3-2.
MARYLAND-CALIFORNIA (2-1).
After failing to get past the third round in the two years since it won the 2005 national title, Maryland eased past California on Saturday thanks to goals from juniors Omar Gonzalez and Jeremy Hall.
The Terps got on the board in the 19th minute when Gonzalez scored on a header off Graham Zusi‘s corner kick.
Hall made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute with his team-leading 14th goal of the year.
The Golden Bears pulled within one goal 15 minutes later when Andrew Wiedeman scored his fourth goal of the NCAA Tournament.
NOTABLE. The win tied a Maryland program-best of 20 for the year and extended the Terps’ winning streak to 13 consecutive matches.
QUOTABLE. “It feels good to get past this one,” Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski said. “The last two years at this stage we had some heartbreaking losses and I think you saw a team that is matured, that is hungry, and that found a way to win this game.”
GAME SUMMARY:
Nov. 29 in College Park, Md.
Maryland 2 California 1. Goals: Gonzalez (Zusi) 19, Hall 53; Wiedeman (Wilson) 68.
Maryland — MacMath, Gonzalez, Costanzo, Delagarza, Wallace, Rodkey, Zusi, Marchiano, Hall, Townsend, Herrick. Subs: Kassel, Yates, Tangney, Oduaran.
California — Frei, Sassano, Soares, Deal, Avalos, Jones, Carrasco, Marion, Wiedeman, Paul, Wilson. Subs: Nieraeth, Van Buskirk, Omphroy, Brown.
Referee: Alex Prus.
Att.: 2,531.
CREIGHTON 2 TULSA 1 (OT).
Senior Seth Sinovic headed in the game-winner in the 99th minute off of a free kick from senior Andrei Gotsmanov to keep Creighton’s season alive.
Despite a dominating performance by the Bluejays, they needed to come from behind to keep their season alive. The Jays outshot UConn, 11-2, in the first half but trailed on a goal scored in the 33rd minute when UConn freshman Tony Cascio snuck behind the Bluejay defense on a lead pass from Jamaican international Akeem Priestly and put his shot into the net for his second goal in as many games.
Creighton outshot the Huskies, 14-4, in the second half but didn’t break through the packed-in UConn defense until the 79th minute when Gotsmanov sent a free kick to the far post where freshman Ethan Finlay headed the ball in front of the net and junior Chris Schuler connected on a header of his own.
NOTABLE. The win moved the Bluejays to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time since 2002 and extended ts unbeaten streak to 15 games.
GAME SUMMARY:
Nov. 29 in Omaha, Neb.
Creighton 2 Connecticut 1 (OT). Goals: Schuler (Finlay, Gotsmanov) 79, Sinovic (Gotsmanov) 99; Cascio (Priestley) 33.
Creighton — Holt, Akinrinade, Schuler, Deremer, Gotsmanov, Jordan, Sinovic, Finlay, Dacy, Walters, Thayer. Subs: S.Castillo, Sindlinger, Clark, O’Neill.
Connecticut — Ford, King, Siriboe-Watson, O.Castillo, Nicklaw, Pezza, Brickley, Stahl, Cascio, Arad, Priestley. Subs: McKie, Hernandez, Boa, Lopez.
Referee: Misail Tsapos.
Att.: 2,263.
SOUTH FLORIDA 1 UNC GREENSBORO 1 (PKS: 3-1).
Sophomore goalkeeper Jeff Attinella stopped the first two UNCG penalty kicks and the fourth Spartan attempt to lead USF into the quarterfinals thanks to the shootout win.
The teams went to overtime after a hectic second half. UNCG got on the board less than two minutes after the break on a goal by sophomore forward Nirav Kadam. USF had almost twice as many shots as UNCG (19-10) but couldn’t equalize until the 83rd minute when Zak Boggs‘ header bounced off the near post and Jordan Seabrook swooped in to rip the game-tying goal.
NOTABLE. The Bulls moved into the quarterfinals for only the second time in their history.
QUOTABLE. “I told the team if we go into penalty kicks, Jeff will win the game for us,” said USF coach George Kiefer. “He saved two penalty kicks (on fouls in regulation) during the regular season and in training he is very hard to beat. So yes, we felt good going into the shootout.”
GAME SUMMARY:
Nov. 29 in Tampa
South Florida 1 UNC Greensboro 1 (South Florida wins 3-1 on penalties). Goals: Seabrook (Boggs) 83; Kadam (Manyama) 47.
South Florida — Attinella, Y.Marshall, Mittoo, Perry, Mohammed, Mora, Aristeguieta, Devenish, Gonzalez, Boggs, Seabrook. Subs: Thuriere, Claessens, A.Marshall, Libereros.
UNC Greensboro — Berry, Elliott, O’Keeffe, Burnett, Davis, Elisabetarson, Mack, Oronos, Masters, Manyama, Oronos. Subs: Young, Maret, Bonilla, Lofton, Betts, Foxx.
Referee: Ed Shea.
Att.: 1,823.
INDIANA 3 MICHIGAN 0.
The third meeting of the Big Ten rivals was decided on goals by Andy Adlard, Brad Ring and John Mellencamp.
The key play of the game took place in the 74th minute when Michigan star Perica Marosevic hit the crossbar. Three minutes later, Adlard fed Ring for the Hoosiers’ second goal that broke the Wolverines’ back.
NOTABLE. Indiana is 55-4-2 in NCAA?Tournament games at home.
QUOTABLE. “Once we got into a flow, we were being patient and making them chase,” said Adlard. “That is how we got our goals.”
GAME SUMMARY:
Nov. 29 in Bloomington, Ind.
Indiana 3 Michigan 0. Goals: Adlard (Hagedorn, Wilmarth) 34, Ring (Adlard) 77, Mellencamp (Ackley) 82.
Indiana — Cain, Balchan, Meyer, Sarkodie, Alston, Ring, Alexander, Mellencamp, Adlard, Noschang, Bruin. Subs: Yeagle, Sckley, Wilmarth, Hagedorn, Kelly, Sutter, Weaver, Reisinger.
Michigan — Sperry, Robles, Holody, Schmitt, Morisset, Perez, Gray, Stacy, Fuzetti, Marosevic, Bonnell. Subs: Keller, Jarun, Cameron, Parke.
Referee: Pawel Wydra.
Att.: 1,103.
ST. JOHN’S 3 UC IRVINE 2.
After UC Irvine went ahead on a goal by Amani Walker in the 14th minute, St. John’s responded with goals by Swede Joel Gustafsson, Zimbabwean Trevor Chiduku and Norwegian Sverre Wegge Gundhus. Irving Garcia added a second goal for UC Irvine, which finished with a 15-2-6 record.
NOTABLE. St. John’s improved to 11-0-0 at home, setting a school record for home wins in a season.
QUOTABLE. “UC Irvine is a deep team with a lot of talented and physical players,” said St. John’s coach Dr. Dave Masur. “I thought we played with a lot of intensity and were able to take advantage of opportunities around the net.”
GAME SUMMARY:
Nov. 29 in Jamaica, N.Y.
St. John’s 3 UC Irvine 2. Goals: Gustafsson (Wegge Gundhus) 30, Chiduku 78, Wegge Sundhus (Becerra) 83; Walker (Garcia) 14, Garcia (Walker) 85.
St. John’s — Kitson, Clack, Reed, Lade, Gustafsson, Wegge Gundhus, Terra, Quinn, Becerra, Punyed, Soroka. Subs: Gonzalez, Chiduku, Ivo, Hines.
UC Irvine — Fontein, Westbrook, Schmid, Sias, Bailey, Santora, Garcia, Macedo, Murphy, Willrich, Walker. Subs: Berman, Thompson, Aguilar.
Att.: 802.
NORTH CAROLINA 3 UIC 2 (OT).
A pair of seniors came through for UNC in an overtime thriller moved to Cary’s WakeMed Soccer Park, site of next weekend’s Women’s College Cup, due to unplayable field conditions at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill.
Michael Callahan scored the equalizer in the 87th minute and classmate Garry Lewis netted the overtime game-winner in the 95th for North Carolina, which will host Northwestern Saturday at Fetzer Field.
Senior forward Brian Shriver assisted on two goals, and freshman midfielder Kirk Urso also scored for Tar Heels, who battled foggy and rainy weather and a pesky UIC team that took leads of 1-0 and 2-1.
NOTABLE. With the victory, Carolina is headed to its fourth NCAA quarterfinal since 2000 and its fifth in program history.
QUOTABLE. “I give our guys credit because at 2-1 it is very easy to let the momentum shift and cave in, but we battled through,” said UNC coach Elmar Bolowich. “We got the opportunities and we took them. That’s what we needed. That was our call all game long … ‘You need to take the opportunities, you have to be strong and initiate the plays.’ Finally, with Cally and Garry, the two plays were made that we needed to win the game.”
GAME SUMMARY:
Nov. 30 in Cary, N.C.
North Carolina 3 UIC 2 (OT). Goals: Urso (Shriver) 21, Callahan 87, Lewis (Shriver) 95; Spiess (Trout) 19, B.Husidic 71.
North Carolina — Haggerty, Loyd, Graye, Williams, Adeleye, Callahan, Lewis, Brown, Ababio, Schuler, Shriver. Subs: Rodriguez, McCarty, Lebo, Urso, Dixon
UIC — Kelliher, Younger, Kopec, McMahon, A.Husidic, Sarachan, B.Husidic, Serrato, Trout, Spiess, Stoll. Subs: Diallo, Wolfe, Huffman.
Referee: Jorge Gonzalez.
Att.: 277.