The Terrapin men’s soccer team simply could not find a way to score in the opening half against Mount St. Mary’s last night.

The failed attempts culminated in the 45th minute, when junior midfielder Stephen King rocketed a shot that looked on goal, but hit a defender and came back to where King shot it from.

Even though the Terps outshot the Mountaineers by eight, it was a scoreless tie at half.

“Sometimes they just don’t fall for you,” senior midfielder A.J. Godbolt said. “You hit the crossbar, you hit the post, the goalie makes a great save or it hits someone’s leg … sometimes they fall sometimes they don’t.”

But minutes into the second half, freshman forward Jason Herrick was in the right spot for a lucky bounce and tallied what would be the game-winning goal for the Terps’ 2-0 victory.

In the first half, the No. 6 Terps made great plays on the ball and failed to deliver. Ironically, in the second half it wasn’t even a good touch that put the first ball in the back of the net.

The goal came when Godbolt dribbled the ball near the end line, crossed it into the box and watched as it softly ricocheted off Herrick and trickled past the goalie and across the goal line.

“Herrick found me out wide and made a great run in the box, and then I found him,” Godbolt said of the goal. “I think he went to put his head down, and it might have hit his shoulder and went in the goal.”

The goal ended the frustration of taking – and missing – 13 first half shots. Most of them were quality chances and five of them were on goal.

“It was very big. Any time you can score a goal early at the beginning or end of any half it is a big boost,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “We probably deserved two or three more goals to reward the quality of play.”

The missed opportunities for the Terps in the opening half seemed to get closer and closer to becoming goals as time wound down.

The failed chances ranged from freshman midfielder Drew Yates coming close but never pulling the trigger inside the box, to when senior defender David Glaudemans – who hardly ever takes shots – wailed a ball to the top corner of the net, only to see it blocked away by the jumping, outstretched Mount St. Mary’s goalie Mark Murphy.

At times it was so frustrating for the Terps, Cirovski could be heard yelling all the way at the top of the stands from the sidelines of Ludwig Field.

“Serve the ball!” he screamed in the 20th minute when the Terps had a chance in the box but never made the pass to take the shot.

But after Herrick’s goal, the Terps and Cirovski settled down.

They scored once more in the game when freshman Jeremy Hall netted one in the 62nd minute. His goal came after he took the ball with his back to the goal and then turned and fired.

Freshman goalkeeper Chris Seitz only had to make three saves to notch his third shutout of the season.

The Terps dominated the game in every aspect. They finished with 29 shots to the unranked Mountaineers six; the Terps led corner kicks 8-0.

“At halftime we were very positive and we felt like we were in control of the game,” Cirovski said. “We knew the goals would come.”

TERP NOTES: Starting sophomores forward Graham Zusi and midfielder Rich Costanzo both did not play in the game. Cirovski said the players are not injured, he just decided to give them a day off going into Saturday’s ACC game against N.C. State.

Contact reporter Bryan Mann at bmanndbk@gmail.com.