CARY, N.C. - Midfielder Jeremy Hall sat in front of the microphone after yesterday's Terrapin men's soccer game and gave his goalkeeper, sitting to his right, a deserved pat on the back.
Despite facing tough pressure from No. 23 North Carolina, goalkeeper Zac MacMath helped take the No. 5 Terps to a 1-0 win in the ACC tournament quarterfinals yesterday. MacMath notched six saves and helped protect an early Terp lead.
It was Hall who struck for the Terps (16-3-0), putting his team in the lead with a goal in the 14th minute. Still, the Terps could not convert offensive opportunities in the second half, failing to put the game away just as they did in the Nov. 7 regular season finale against North Carolina. As a result, MacMath's effort was even more necessary.
"I think Zac should play against North Carolina every week," coach Sasho Cirovski joked after the game. "He played his two best games of the year the last two games. He's an outstanding goalkeeper, as we all know, and he's sort of matured, and we're seeing that. He was a calming influence on our team today."
He needed to be, or else the Terps could very well be out of the tournament and back in College Park already.
Four times, MacMath made spectacular diving stops of shots on goal. Arguably, the toughest save came with just more than 34 minutes remaining in the second half.
Tar Heel forward Eddie Ababio received the ball on the left side, cut right and fired a shot from just inside the box that MacMath stretched out to deflect out of bounds for a corner kick.
MacMath made three more diving saves, two of which came on balls headed just inside the left post. It was a complete performance, especially impressive for a player making his postseason debut.
"I was a little bit more nervous than I was on Friday night," MacMath said. "But after the game got going and I made my first save, the nerves went down a little bit."
MacMath protected the lead Hall provided early in the first half. After defender Rich Costanzo and midfielder Doug Rodkey crisply worked the ball down the right side of the field, Rodkey sent a cross to a wide-open Hall, who had enough time to collect the ball and calmly put away the lone goal of the game.
Just as in last Friday's 2-1 win against North Carolina, the Terps had a number of missed opportunities in the beginning of the second half - hitting the crossbar, left post and sending a shot right at Tar Heel goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty despite being behind the defense - all in the first 10 minutes.
That made MacMath's job that much harder, but he stepped up to the challenge.
"I had to just keep my mindset," MacMath said. "I knew they were going to come at us like that being down 1-0. [It's] just smart communication with our defenders and keeping everything tight in the back."
The Terps will play No. 3 seed Boston College on Friday in the tournament semifinals. But they might be without midfielder Matt Kassel, who suffered a right foot contusion in the first half and did not return to the game. He will get an X-ray before it is determined whether he can play Friday, according to Cirovski.
No matter what Kassel's status for Friday is, the Terps now know for sure they have a goalkeeper in MacMath capable of carrying them through closely contested postseason games.
Judging by Hall's reaction after the game, that's a great luxury to have.
"He made some great saves today," Hall said. "Getting balls that were going off the posts, you need that to win games like this. So I'm really happy about that."
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