COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- A confident Virginia squad had the opportunity to clinch the ACC regular season title Wednesday night with a victory over Maryland. The No. 2 Cavaliers, however, received a rude wakeup call in the form of a 3-0 loss at the hands of the No. 4 Terrapins (11-3, 5-1-0 ACC). The loss leaves Virginia (10-2-2, 5-1-0 ACC) in a first-place tie with the Terrapins at the top of the conference standings.
The Terrapins applied consistent offensive pressure throughout the first half. Maryland out-shot Virginia 6-3 in the first 45 minutes of play.
The Cavaliers made several nice defensive plays to keep the score even for most of the half. In the 17th minute, junior Lee Sandwina exhibited exceptional speed in beating Maryland's fleet forward, Jason Garey, to an open ball at the top of Virginia's box. Eleven minutes later, goalkeeper Ryan Burke punched a Garey shot out of the box.
Maryland's offensive pressure was relentless however, and a little more than a minute later Yannick Reyering saved a goal by clearing a Chris Lancos header out of the box and over Virginia's net. It was only a matter of time before Maryland would put one in the back of the net.
"They had us on our heels a little bit," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "We were under pressure a lot. I don't think our forwards played very well. Our backs played okay but it wasn't good enough."
With just under two minutes left before halftime, Maryland midfielder Maurice Edu received a pass on the left side of the field and streaked down the sideline. He crossed the ball to forward Robbie Rogers who turned and sent the ball past Burke to give Maryland a 1-0 lead.
"We just got caught," Gelnovatch said. "I think we needed to get out of the half at 0-0. That would have helped."
The Terrapins continued to penetrate Virginia's side of the field with ease in the second half. With 26:59 remaining in the game, Maryland midfielder Stephen King received a pass in the box from A.J. Godbolt. King turned and sent a shot that bounced over a diving Ryan Burke and settled comfortably in the back of the net, giving the Terrapins a 2-0 lead.
Only three minutes earlier, the Cavaliers failed to capitalize on two terrific scoring opportunities. Sophomore midfielder Nico Colaluca's corner kick found defender Matt Poole open several yards in front of Maryland's goal. The ball, however, deflected off the back side of Poole's head and out to the left side of the box. Seconds later, the ball was sent back into the box where Reyering had an open shot but headed the ball just over the net. Reyering also narrowly missed on a shot from about 30 yards out earlier in the half.
"We had a few good looks where we didn't get a goal and some guys didn't make plays who have been making plays all year," Gelnovatch said. "But I didn't expect to go the rest of the season without losing a game."
Overall, the Cavaliers created very few realistic scoring opportunities and were not able to take advantage of Maryland's freshman goalkeeper Chris Seitz.
The Terrapins added insult to injury with four minutes left. Garey notched his ACC-leading 14th goal of the year off a pass from Lancos. The rowdy Maryland student section sang its infamous "Rock and Roll, Part II" chant and it was clear that this would not be Virginia's night.
"It's just one game," Poole said. "It's not the whole season. We definitely wanted to win but it's not the end of the season or anything. We'll just look to the next game and keep on playing."
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