After starting conference play with a loss and a tough ACC road schedule looming, the Terrapin men’s soccer team needed a conference win to avoid a two-game hole in the standings.

The Terps’ second ACC game came Saturday night at home against N.C. State; although unranked, the Wolfpack already played the role of giant-killer earlier this season by knocking off No. 16 North Carolina on the road. They also came into the game unbeaten against the Terps in the last two seasons.

But the Terps made sure there would be no upset as they thoroughly handled the Wolfpack from start to finish, winning 3-0 in front of 4,565 fans, the third largest crowd in Ludwig Field history.

“In this league a lot of teams are going to take some losses,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “Today we bounced back and played exceptionally well.”

In the Terps’ first ACC game against No. 2-ranked Clemson, they started off rattled and did not play to the level of the Tigers early on.

The Terps had similar trouble in two other games this year as they failed to score in the opening halves against unranked Binghamton and unranked Mount St. Mary’s.

But against the Wolfpack, the No. 6 Terps did the opposite. From the first whistle – when sophomore Mike Marchiano got penalized with a yellow card for a tough slide tackle in the opening seconds – to the end of the game, their high level of intensity never wavered.

“We don’t want to wait until the second half to come out with intensity,” junior midfielder Stephen King said. “We want to try to get on teams early, get the first goal early, and so that’s what we tried to do, and we just kept going at them.”

The Terps (6-1, 1-1 ACC) scored two goals in the first half and one in the second. The first came after senior midfielder A.J. Godbolt netted his first goal of the year on a rebound off King’s penalty kick in the fifth minute.

In addition to the opening goal, freshman forward Jason Herrick and sophomore forward Graham Zusi each scored their fourth goals of the season.

The three goal scorers complimented a defense that never let N.C. State (3-4, 1-2) into the game; the Terps had a 9-2 advantage on corner kicks and out-shot the Wolfpack 20-4. The Terps did not allow much pressure on sophomore goalkeeper Chris Seitz, who only needed two saves to notch his fourth shutout of the year.

“It was a very complete performance,” Cirovski said. “I thought our defending in the first half was about as good as it gets.”

The defense was so good in the first half the Wolfpack did not register a single shot until the 48th minute.

Because N.C. State isn’t considered one of the best teams in the ACC, it was especially important for the Terps to leave Saturday night with a dominating conference win.

“Coming off an ACC loss against Clemson we knew we had to establish ourselves in the ACC; it was a big game for us – now we are 1-1,” junior midfielder Maurice Edu said. “I think it is just a lot of motivation to come and prove ourselves against ACC teams.”

TERP NOTES: On his goal early in the game Godbolt was injured. He left the field limping and came back onto the field after halftime still walking gingerly, and didn’t play during the second half. Cirovski said he did not think the injury was that severe and said he hopes Godbolt will be ready to play in a few days.

Contact reporter Bryan Mann at bmanndbk@gmail.com.