Maryland men’s soccer eliminated in second round with 2-1 loss to Wake Forest

Photo courtesy of Ashley Ray/Maryland Terrapins

Maryland was locked in a tight 1-1 match against Wake Forest in the 63rd minute when freshman Joel Torbic played an incisive pass to midfielder Cooper Flax, completely splitting two Terps’ lines of four players. Flax slotted his shot to the right of sliding goalie Laurin Mack to grab the lead. 

“That was a terrific pass by them and he took it in stride and finished it off,” Terps’ coach Sasho Cirovski said. “We had a couple like that where we could have potentially threaded the needle or made a pass like that in stride and just didn’t do it.”

Maryland men’s soccer (9-6-5) was defeated, 2-1, to No. 8 seed Wake Forest (11-4-7) on Sunday at Spry Stadium, ending the Terps’ season in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Maryland hasn’t advanced past the second round since winning the national championship in 2018. 

“The finality of a loss at the end of season, it’s a very empty feeling,” Cirovski said. “While my heart is empty for the players and for not getting the result, it’s very full for the effort and the quality of fight and play that they put out after getting off to a slow start. That’s a good team we played against today.”

The Terps delivered a solid performance but ran into a red-hot Demon Deacons squad that has won nine out of its last eight games and captured the ACC tournament title a week ago. 

Maryland’s veteran defense played a key part in the squad’s success this season and held Wake Forest to five shots on goal despite 17 total shot attempts. But the Terps’ backline made too many mistakes down the stretch, allowing multiple goals in all of their last six games. 

Maryland’s inconsistent offense also contributed to its demise. The Terps attempted 13 shots but only three were on target. Forward Colin Griffith, Maryland’s leading goalscorer from open play, failed to score in his final seven games of the season. 

The second half was a mix of physical play and a whistle-happy refereeing crew, featuring 17 fouls and 10 yellow cards. Terps midfielder Chris Steinleitner was initially sent off in the 69th minute with a red card for a jumping tackle on Bo Cummins where he stomped on his foot. But the referee went to video review and surprisingly downgraded the card to a yellow. 

Wake Forest controlled possession early and put pressure on the Terps’ defense. Freshman Amoni Thomas fired a shot on goal in the 11th minute, forcing a save from Mack. 

Less than a minute later, Dylan Borso cut in on the left side and found room to shoot after the Maryland defenders backed off. He slid a shot past Mack into the bottom right corner to give the Demon Deacons a 1-0 lead. 

The Terps began to press high and possess the ball in the final third after going down a goal. Midfielder Albi Ndrenika’s shot in the 16th minute took a deflection, forcing goalie Trace Alphin to adjust and make a difficult save. 

Maryland’s momentum was rewarded with a goal with three minutes remaining in the half. A well-worked passing sequence culminated in Luca Costabile setting up Max Rogers, who battered a one-time strike into the top left corner to equalize. Rogers scored twice and assisted two goals in the Terps’ last two games after failing to make a goal contribution in the previous six games. 

Center back William Kulvik played exceptional, making deflections and interventions to stop the Wake Forest attack. The senior showcased why he won the 2024 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Midfielder Colin Thomas made a run with supporting numbers at the Terps backline in the 58th minute but Kulvik stole the ball off him to thwart the opportunity.

The second half started slow with the frequent fouls giving the game a stop-start nature. The lack of flow stopped Maryland’s offense from finding a consistent rhythm. The Demon Deacons grabbed momentum with the important score from Flax, his ninth goal of the year.

Maryland desperately pushed for an equalizer in the last 15 minutes. But the Terps couldn’t string together chances in the final third with too many misplaced passes to create a clear-cut opportunity. Their best chances at the end came from a few set pieces and scrambles in the box but the attackers failed to really challenge Alphin. Maryland didn’t record a shot attempt in the last eight minutes. 

The college soccer timekeeping rules are unique because the game ends as soon as the clock hits zero as opposed to the referee keeping the time on the field and adding time for stoppages. This worked in Wake Forest’s favor because the home clock operator barely stopped the clock during the final moments, instead letting at least several minutes run off the clock that the Terps didn’t get back. 

Maryland will have to wait and see how many of its key players depart in the offseason. Four starters will graduate and others like Leon Koehl could depart for the MLS draft.