Laurin Mack leads No. 4-seed Maryland men’s soccer to shootout victory over North Carolina in NCAA Second Round

Written By Apo November 23, 2025 Add Comment

Sasho Cirovski felt No. 4-seed Maryland men’s soccer’s Big Ten Tournament loss prepared the team for any adversity it would face down the road. In the Terps’ NCAA Tournament second-round clash against North Carolina, that moment came.

With the score deadlocked after 110 minutes, Maryland headed into its first penalty kick shootout in five years.

After watching Sadam Masereka clip the crossbar on the Terps’ first penalty kick, Laurin Mack knew it was his time to shine. He did just that. The sophomore goalkeeper made two critical saves — one to his right and the other to his left.

With the game on the line, Mack stepped up to the spot for Maryland’s fifth penalty kick. He took a few steps back and shifted to his left. After a deep breath, the goalkeeper charged at the ball and drilled it into the corner. Ludwig Field erupted.

Mack’s shootout heroics fueled Maryland to a 4-3 shootout victory and a ticket to the NCAA Tournament’s third round.

Rocket Ritarita’s introduction to postseason play exceeded all expectations. The freshman made his presence felt just 10 minutes into his NCAA Tournament debut.

After a promising start to the season — he posted two goals and four assists in the Terps’ first four contests — Ritarita didn’t have the same success during Big Ten play. He saw less and less of the pitch as the season progressed, including only 15 minutes against UCLA last week.

But Ritarita broke out of his offensive slump Sunday afternoon. With time winding down in the first half, he netted Maryland’s first goal of the tournament.

Jace Clark played a brilliant ball down the line to the feet of Masereka. The senior winger spun off his defender and laid the ball back up top to Ritarita. Without any hesitation, he fired the shot into the bottom corner past North Carolina goalie Andrew Cordes.

Despite heading into the break up a goal, Maryland’s start to the match wasn’t very clean. With an 11-day gap between games, the Terps weren’t as sharp in possession, missing passes routinely.

But the Tar Heels’ high press didn’t help either. Their forward pairing left Maryland’s backline without much time to build out the back at points in the game.

The Terps’ starting backline remained intact throughout the regular season and into the Big Ten Tournament. However, with Clark’s injury in the last game, Sasho Cirovski opted to start Farouk Cisse at right back.

While Cisse was solid defensive in the first half, he didn’t offer the same threat going forward. Instead, Lasse Kelp and Costabile played balls in behind the Tar Heels’ defense, hoping to utilize the speed of Stephane Njike and Masereka.

The Terps didn’t find much attacking success with that tactic, but it did relieve pressure on the defense. Maryland pinned North Carolina in its own half, keeping Laurin Mack without much to do in the first 45 minutes.

That changed eight minutes after halftime. Tar Heels midfielder Nacho Abeal found a sliver of separation from Cisse and buried it in the bottom corner of the net to equalize the match.

Despite a more offensive second half — there were nine total shots between the two sides and four saves — neither side could find the game-winner in regulation.

The best chance of the half came in the 88th minute, when Mack made a diving stop to his right. His heroics were only beginning as he forced the game into overtime, keeping Maryland’s season alive.

While Maryland thought it had earned a penalty kick in the 95th minute — video review determined there was no foul — the game headed into double overtime. Brian St. Martin almost struck the back of the net on a header, but his effort was saved in the top corner.

Those two chances set the stage for the thrilling shootout victory.

Three things to know

1. Chippy game. While Maryland and North Carolina hadn’t met since 2013 — back when the Terps were in the ACC — Sunday’s game rekindled the spark between two former conference rivals. Twenty-six fouls accumulated throughout the match, with yellow cards handed out left and right.

2. Second-round struggles erased. Despite making the NCAA Tournament in five of the previous six seasons, Maryland had yet to advance past the second round. The Terps got over the hump Sunday afternoon, advancing to face No. 13-seed UConn in the third round next weekend.

3. Mack saves Maryland’s season. With the Terps’ backs against the wall — Maryland trailed by one after the first round of shootout — the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year rose to the occasion. Mack calmly drilled the Terps’ fifth penalty kick, something that is rare to see at any level of soccer.

from Testudo Times https://ift.tt/rBcHVYl