Men's soccer beats Harvard 2-0, sets up quarterfinal match at archrival Virginia

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — As a zooming ball rushed by him, a befuddled Austin Harms looked as though he didn't even know where the shot had come from.

How fitting.

After being unseeded for the first time in eight years, a Terrapin men's soccer team many did not expect to do much continued onward toward its hopes of repeating as champions yesterday afternoon, winning away from Ludwig Field for the second straight time at No. 10 seed Harvard, 2-0.

Forward Casey Townsend opened the scoring, and midfielder Billy Cortes' second-half strike past Crimson goalkeeper Harms secured the Terps' sixth quarterfinals appearance in the NCAA Tournament in eight years.

"I thought we played a complete game, and we met the different demands that this game presented," said coach Sasho Cirovski, whose Terps will play at Virginia next Friday. "I think we're a team that's young, that's overcome a lot of adversity and has found a way to get better and stayed resilient."

Again, the first goal made all the difference.

After a scramble for the ball along the left flank in the 11th minute, Cortes touched it to defender Taylor Kemp, who sent in a low line drive toward the near post. After the ball made its way through a first wave of bodies, Townsend stretched for the left-footed volley.

Instead, the ball deflected down to his right foot and then above Harms' head, seemingly headed for the crossbar. Before it could, the wind intervened, dropping the ball down and into the net.

"That's a Casey Townsend goal," Cirovski said. "That's a goal scorer's goal."

Harvard entered Sunday's match with a striker to match Townsend. Forward Andre Akpan, playing in what would ultimately be his last college match, needed just one score for the Crimson career goal record, set by Chris Ohiri, the man for whom the stadium was named.

He almost got it — twice. Midway through the first half, Akpan found a rare opportunity to slip behind the Terp backline, running onto a through ball before pointing the ball toward goal. Terp goalkeeper Zac MacMath charged off his line to close down the angle, but collided with Akpan a second too late. The whistle blew, and Akpan headed to the penalty strike for a chance to make history and change the flow of the game.

As he approached the spot, the senior decelerated, freezing MacMath on his line, but weakening his own shot. Akpan's try toward the right post struck the knee of a diving MacMath, and the ball popped fortuitously back to the forward. But seemingly taken aback by the save and evidently unprepared for the high bounce, Akpan managed only a weak rebound effort that drifted easily back to MacMath.

"There's a reason why he's one of the best keepers in the country," Cirovski said.
"Maybe it wasn't meant to be," Akban said of his failed penalty kick.

After a back-and-forth first half, the Terps took control of the action in the second. A flowing offense created opportunities for just about every attacking member, but it was Cortes who again rose to the occasion. After a goal and the game-winning assist last week at Penn State, Cortes resumed his postseason heroics with a bang in the 78th minute.

After midfielder Drew Yates laid off a pass to Cortes near the top of the box, the do-everything senior made a crossing run in front of Cortes. The interchange paralyzed the Crimson defense, and Cortes cut the ball to his right foot.

"I thought if I could just curl it back post, it had a chance of going in," Cortes said.

He didn't curl it, but it didn't matter. The junior's 22-yard missile found the lower right section of the goal, all but punching the Terps' ticket to Charlottesville, Va., and writing the latest chapter in the Terps' unlikely run to the brink of the College Cup.

shaffer@umdbk.com