Stertzer’s header ends 4-3 thriller

BALTIMORE — When the Terrapins men's soccer team arrived here at Retriever Soccer Park yesterday, it wore more than a scarlet "M" on its chest: It bore a target.

The Terps earned their first No. 1 ranking since September 2009 when the NCSAA top-25 poll was released just hours before kickoff, and local rival UMBC was determined to make that a short-lived distinction.

"I wanted to bring our team into a hornet's nest," coach Sasho Cirovski said after the game. "I knew this team was capable of pushing us."

Playing with the gusto of a grade-schooler desperate to one-up his older brother, the unranked Retrievers clawed and scratched at the in-state power for 103 minutes last night.

But when the final whistle blew last night, the Terps had their sixth win in six games.

With two minutes remaining in the second sudden-death overtime period, midfielder John Stertzer rose above two UMBC defenders and headed a cross past Retrievers goalkeeper Dan Louisignau. The score secured a 4-3 Terps win and sent Stertzer running into the outstretched arms of his teammates.

Stertzer's fourth goal of the season, which secured the Terps' first 6-0 start since 2003, surely brought him considerable solace. Less than three minutes earlier, he missed a penalty kick that could've ended the match in the first overtime period.

"As soon as I missed that penalty kick, I just thought, ‘God, I hope I didn't just blow the game,'" Stertzer said. "I needed to do something to redeem myself."

After entering halftime without a goal for the first time in three games, the Terps turned to forward Casey Townsend to set an aggressive tone early in the second half.

Catching a looping pass from midfielder Sunny Jane,the senior co-captain netted an 8-yard rocket to give the Terps the lead in the 45th minute.

After UMBC answered six minutes later with a headed goal from forward Pete Caringi, Townsend responded with two more. He scored off a corner kick from midfielder Kaoru Forbess from just inside the penalty box in the 56th minute and then capped off his first hat trick of the season with a header inside the penalty box off a late Jordan Cyrus corner kick.

"I was just in the right places," Townsend said. "Some guys were making some really good passes, and I was lucky enough to get three in."

Boosted by their leading scorer and up 3-1, the Terps' command of the game withered in the game's waning minutes. UMBC defender Sean Rothe took advantage, netting two goals within four minutes of Townsend's 81st-minute final score.

Rothe's second goal, a 13-yard rocket that caromed off the bottom of the upper goalpost and behind goalkeeper Will Swaim, sent UMBC's record crowd into an uproar the revamped Retriever Soccer Park had never before heard.

But when Stertzer scored in the 103rd minute, that scene was a distant memory. The top-ranked Terps, by the nearest of margins, were still unbeaten.

"It's all a blur," Stertzer said.

letourneau@umdbk.com