Sasho Cirovski
The Terrapins men’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the year yesterday night, but it may have suffered a loss more significant than an unbeaten regular season.
In the 65th minute of the Terps’ matchup at Wake Forest, defender London Woodberry was issued a red card after Demon Deacons midfielder Jared Watts went down while the two were jockeying for position. Coach Sasho Cirovski said Woodberry was reacting to “a pretty egregious situation.” Woodberry will now miss at least Tuesday’s ACC tournament quarterfinals match against the winner of N.C. State-Virginia Tech.
The red card came six minutes after Wake Forest midfielder Ross Tomaselli tied the game at 2-2 from just outside the 18-yard box. Not much went the Terps’ way the rest of the game, as the No. 18 Demon Deacons would score two more times to hand the No. 1 Terps their first loss of the season, 4-2, in front of 3,548 at W. Dennie Spry Soccer Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“The red card changed everything,” Cirovski said. “That’s something that really changed the whole direction of the game. It was just an unfortunate call that caught us all off guard.”
After the first half, it appeared the Terps were rested and rejuvenated after looking fatigued late in their 2-2 draw with Clemson on Oct. 27. Demon Deacons forward Sean Okoli scored an early goal to give Wake Forest a 1-0 lead, but the Terps took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
First, midfielder John Stertzer netted a bicycle kick off a deflection by Wake Forest goalkeeper Andrew Harris in the 25th minute. And in the 41st, forward Christiano Francois took a long pass from defender Jordan Cyrus and touched it past Harris to give the Terps (14-1-2, 6-1-1 ACC) the lead.
“We were tuned in,” Cirovski said. “We were focused. They got a goal against the run of play, and then we came back and scored two great goals. I thought we were in control of the match and played well.”
That momentum would come to a halt in the second half. Wake Forest’s three-goal effort started when Tomaselli beat a diving goalkeeper Keith Cardona, and forward Luca Gimenez gathered a long cross from defender Chris Duvall three minutes after Woodberry’s red card. Reserve defender Danny Wenzel iced the game for the Demon Deacons (11-3-4, 4-1-3) in the 77th minute, beating Cardona on a penalty kick after Cyrus committed a foul in the box.
The four goals were the most the Terps had given up all season. In their first 16 games, they had allowed two goals four times. The Demon Deacons also outshot the Terps, 13-11, marking the first time the Terps had been outshot this season.
But while it was an uncharacteristic performance for the Terps, Cirovski tried to keep perspective.
“Our goal was never to go undefeated during the regular season,” Cirovski said. “We accomplished our first goal and now we’re focused on our second goal, which is the ACC tournament.”
TERPS NOTE: Defender Taylor Kemp subbed into the game after Woodberry’s ejection. It was the first time he had played since being sidelined Oct. 5 with a sports hernia.
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