No. 4 Men's Soccer Survives Against North Carolina, Advancing To Third Round
It was a close one that had Maryland fans on the edge of their seats. Still, the Maryland Terrapins men's soccer team defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels in a penalty kick shootout, 4-3, after tying 1-1 in regulation of the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Ludwig Field on Sunday afternoon.
The first half started slowly for the Terps, who didn't have long, sustained possessions on the attack, and were a little sloppy with passes. Part of the reason could've been the time off since the Terps last played, and the absence of sophomore defender Jace Clark, who injured his leg against UCLA in the Big Ten Tournament.
Sadam Masereka took the first shot of the game for the Terps in the third minute, sending a shot just wide of the low-left side of the net from outside the box.
However, as the first half progressed, the Terps started finding lanes into the Tar Heels' zone, setting up more opportunities to get on board. By the 32nd minute of the first half, Maryland already had three corner kicks.
In the 24th minute, Luca Costabile sailed a shot just high of the top bar of the net from right outside the box.
Right before the half, Rocket Ritarita found the back of the net to give Maryland a 1-0 lead. Ritarita received a nice drop-off pass from Masereka, who sent the ball to the left side of the net, past the North Carolina goalkeeper.
BLASTOFF 🚀
— Maryland Men’s Soccer 🐢 (@MarylandMSoccer) November 23, 2025
📺 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/l7CllhUo6i
In the second half, the Tar Heels put a direct shot on goal in the 52nd minute that was saved by the Terps' goalkeeper, Laurin Mack.
Two minutes later, North Carolina tied things up 1-1, with a point-blank turning shot to the low left side passed the outstretched hands of Mack by Nacho Abeal.
Maryland had a corner kick in the 59th minute that was played into the box, where a North Carolina player batted it out just in time before it reached dangerous territory.
The Terps had a free-kick chance in the 86th minute by Leon Koehl. Mack made a clutch game-saving diving stop in the 88th minute that kept things tied up.
In both overtime periods, neither team could score the go-ahead goal; the Terps had a couple of chances that went wide or were stopped. This resulted in a shootout, a feat that the Terps have not seen since 2020.
The shootout saw Mack step up the most for his team when they needed him to. After North Carolina converted on the first PK attempt, Masereka missed his first attempt just high.
Mack would make diving saves on the subsequent two attempts, which allowed Joseph Umberto Picotto to put the Terps up 2-1 through three PKs.
Maryland and North Carolina exchanged successful attempts in the fourth attempt.
In the final attempt, Tar Heels defender, Luca Nikolai, kept them alive with a shot that hooked to the left side of the net. But Mack would send the Tar Heels packing with a direct shot to the left net that froze the Tar Heels' goalkeeper.
Simply amazing 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Jz44Qqt3cQ
— Maryland Men’s Soccer 🐢 (@MarylandMSoccer) November 23, 2025
Up Next:
Head coach Sasho Cirovski and his team face No. 13 UConn in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 29th at Ludwig Field starting at 1 p.m.
Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.