No. 1 men's soccer settles for draw vs. Seton Hall

Hoping to break a scoreless tie late in the first half of last night's game at Seton Hall, forward Casey Townsend burst into space and unleashed a wide-open shot just inside the penalty box.

But as if the goalpost were trying to send the No. 1 Terrapins men's soccer team a message, the ball clanged off the crossbar and landed on the grass at a packed Owen T. Carroll Field.

With more than 75 minutes remaining in the Terps' eventual 0-0 tie against the Pirates, it was already becoming increasingly clear that ball just didn't want to meet net.

"[Townsend] was completely open," coach Sasho Cirovski said after the team's first non-victorious result of the season. "He's going to make that shot nine out of 10 times."

The Terps (7-0-1) dominated possession for nearly the entirety of the 110 minutes played last night. They outshot an unranked Seton Hall (3-2-2) squad, 23-6. They even tallied 13 corner kicks to the Pirates' none.

But when the final whistle blew and the second sudden-death overtime period ended, none of that mattered.

The Terps' perfect start was over. And when the sport's newest top-25 poll is released next Tuesday, their reign atop college soccer's rankings may be, as well.

"You know, this was bound to happen," Cirovski said. "We're not too concerned about the rankings or being perfect. We're just disappointed because we were good enough to win tonight and we didn't."

Had they capitalized on just one of their numerous opportunities, Cirovski and the Terps would have won.

Their offense, which leads the ACC in virtually every statistical category, wasn't just unlucky, it was downright snakebitten. Less than one-fifth of the Terps' shot attempts were on goal, and just one of their many corners yielded a chance to score.

And during those rare moments when the Terps' shot attempts actually headed toward goal, Pirates goalkeeper Mario DeClerico (four saves) — a true freshman making his first career start after entering the season third on Seton Hall's depth chart — was there to haul them in.

So as the Terps ready for Saturday's matchup at Virginia Tech, a team that beat then-No. 1 North Carolina almost two weeks ago, they'll have more than that unfriendly crossbar on their minds.

"Our efficiency was substandard tonight," Cirovski said. "We'll need to do better with that if we hope to win this weekend."

TERPS NOTE: Freshman goalkeeper Keith Cardona and midfielder Dan Metzger started last night in place of normal starters Will Swaim and midfielder Helge Leikvang, respectively. The moves were made to give the substitutes in-game experience, Cirovski said, and Swaim and Leikvang will start again Saturday.

letourneau@umdbk.com