Maryland reaches final four again

Maryland defender Chris Lancos said yesterday it would have been “a failure” if the Terrapins hadn’t returned to the College Cup. Maryland soccer coach Sasho Cirovski jumped right in and dismissed the notion as “ridiculous.”

Of course, such a debate was rendered moot less than a half-hour earlier when the top-seeded Terps upended ninth-seeded Akron 4-1 in penalty kicks in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals to advance to their fourth consecutive final four.

Maryland (17-4-2), which played the Zips to a 1-1 draw for 110 minutes, joins Virginia (1991-95) and Indiana (1997-2001) as the only schools to reach four consecutive final fours since 1978.

“I’m extremely proud of this program and proud of this team,” Cirovski said. “What we’ve accomplished with four straight trips to the College Cup is remarkable.”

The overflow crowd of 4,129 at Ludwig Field was treated to a free-flowing game in frigid conditions and saw the nation’s two highest-scoring teams combine for more shots (36) than fouls (35). The Zips (18-1-4) didn’t play for the tie, outshooting the Terps 7-2 in the final 20 minutes.

Akron advanced to the quarterfinals with a victory in PKs over Connecticut, which simultaneously gave it experience in the format while providing Maryland film to pick apart for the last week. It helped Maryland keeper Chris Seitz, who went to his left for a save after Akron’s Justin Sadler stutter-stepped on the Zips’ first penalty kick.

After yielding a goal, the freshman made another save, taking a step forward before going to his right to deny Ossie Michalsen.

“I pretty much was just trying to get a read off them and see where they were looking, see where they were setting,” Seitz said. “I got lucky.”

Seitz’s teammates were busy shredding Zips keeper Evan Bush. Stephen King, Lancos and Maurice Edu all fired into the left side of the net while Bush dived the wrong way, building a 3-1 lead.

Maryland’s Marc Burch went to his right for the clincher and immediately ripped off his shirt in celebration as a torrent of fans rushed onto the pitch where Maryland is 10-0-2 in the postseason and 48-3-2 overall the last four seasons.

“Watching the other kicks, he kept going the opposite side of where everyone went,” Burch said. “I could tell he was going to go that way, so I put it in the goal.”

Kenney Bertz delivered Maryland’s goal in the 21st minute, scoring off a scrum created by a set piece. The Zips earned the equalizer in the 44th minute when Sinisa Ubiparipovic took a cross from Sadler.

Maryland’s back line played without Bertz for the final 56 minutes after the senior defender was hit just below his eye in a collision. Cirovski said Bertz would be ready when the Terps face unseeded Southern Methodist (14-5-3) on Friday in the College Cup in Cary, N.C.

It’s exactly where the Terps expected to be. Now comes the matter of advancing past the semifinals, where Maryland has lost the last three years.

“The last two years the bar’s been raised,” Lancos said. “If we didn’t make it back to the final four, it would have been a failure, no matter what we did [or] how many wins we had this season. I think now we go there with much different expectations and we go there with much different goals and we’re not going to be happy unless we come home with something this year.”

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