COLLEGE PARK, Md. - After his men's soccer team knocked off the University of Rhode Island in the opening round of the NCAA tournament Saturday, Head Coach Mike Noonan deflected praise toward the Brown football team, saying "this is the beginning of a journey for us."
Unfortunately for the Bears, that journey ended on a cold night on Tuesday in Maryland, as they fell 1-0 to the University of Maryland, College Park, the top overall seed in the tournament, before 1,571 fans. The team held the second most potent offense in Division I more than a goal and a half under its season average, but had trouble generating its own offensive opportunities. Brown ends the season with a record of 11-5-2.
"We're disappointed that the season came to an end, but I thought that the team played very courageously," Noonan said in the postgame press conference. "We got the game right where we wanted it. ... Unfortunately we weren't able to score at the end of the game and made one mistake in the first half."
That one miscue would be all the Terrapins needed. With no score through the first 25 minutes of play, Maryland junior A.J. Godbolt sent a long feed from just past the midfield line on the right side to forward Marc Burch. He got past the two Brown defenders, keeping solid possession inside the box, then ripped a shot to the far post from eight yards away, past goalkeeper Jarrett Leech '09.
According to co-captain Matt Britner '07, the Terrapins set up the score by exploiting the attention Brown was focusing on forward Jason Garey, the all-time leading points scorer in Maryland history and Sports Illustrated on Campus' 2004 Player of the Year.
"It was down the right side and Garey went out and kind of drew me out and they floated the ball over ... me, and a guy got behind our two defenders, took a nice feed, and put it away," Britner said. "I don't know if it's as much of a breakdown as maybe the split second you take your eye off the guy, he gets to the other side, and they took advantage of their opportunities."
Although Maryland had far more chances in the early going, the Bears were the first to come up with a solid scoring opportunity, when Ibrahim Diane '06 broke down the right side of the field in the first minute. Making his way past multiple defenders, he lost control of the ball inside the 18-yard box. Keith Caldwell '06 came up with it and got a shot off, but Chris Seitz, Maryland's own first-year goalkeeper, registered the save.
Maryland dominated possession from that moment on, keeping the ball mostly on Brown's half of the field and controlling the aerial game. The constant pressure did generate some scoring opportunities for the Terrapins, but the Bears' defense held strong.
Especially coming up big for the Bears was Britner, who prevented what should have been a sure Terps goal with just over 28 minutes left in the first half, stopping Garey on a breakaway inside the box with a perfectly placed slide tackle.
After not registering a shot for nearly 26 minutes, the Brown offense finally got a chance to threaten, earning the first corner kick for either team with just over five minutes remaining. Unfortunately, the kick sailed too long and the Bears lost possession of the ball after Caldwell was whistled for a foul.
Neither team got another shot off before the break, and the Bears went into intermission trailing 1-0.
After being out-shot 8-2 in the first 45 minutes, Brown came out of halftime looking more aggressive. However, it was the Terps who got the first look at the goal, earning a corner kick less than a minute in. The ball was sent into a clump in front of the goal, but Leech managed to knock it away.
Just over a minute later, Brown nearly broke through the same way it ended the game against URI, as Ben Brackett '07 got his head on a cross into the middle, but this time the shot was wide right.
The slight miscues set the tone for most of the second half's action for Brown, such as when Caldwell had Andrew Daniels '07 wide open down the right sideline in the 54th minute. His feed was a little too long, and it rolled out of bounds before Daniels could get to it.
Leech, meanwhile, made two big saves for Brown, diving to stop one shot and then swatting a crossing pass out of the box. He also stopped a potential one-on-one for Maryland, running out to snag the ball from in front of a Maryland player on a breakaway inside the box. He finished the game with four saves, one more than his freshman counterpart. Although, Seitz did not have to contend with the packed stands of Maryland students, which switched ends at halftime to heckle Leech.
"I thought we did very well defensively," Britner said. "(Their score) might have been their only shot on goal really in the whole game. Our goaltender didn't have to do a lot to keep us in it and that's something that we try to do, just give ourselves a chance to be in it."
Brown's aggressiveness started to pay off midway through the half, as the Bears earned two consecutive corner kicks in the 72nd minute. The first one careened directly into a Maryland player, while the second was perfectly placed, leading to a Brown header, but the Terps followed it and headed it away.
With less than five minutes showing on the scoreboard, Noonan changed the team's formation, adding an additional forward, while also making use of an NCAA rule that says the clock must stop for substitutions inside the last five minutes.
"I don't agree with the way the NCAA had the rules of stopping the clock, but that's the way the rules are," Noonan said. "So if you can stop the clock you can extend the game. We don't do that normally, but this is our season. That was a decision that I made, not the players just to try every opportunity we could to get the clock to stop."
The added offensive player led to success on the offensive end, as Brown earned two corner kicks, both taken by Caldwell, in the closing three minutes. The first failed to generate an opportunity, but the second landed right in front of the goal. However, Maryland's Kenney Bertz was there to head the ball out. Brown corralled the rebound and launched a 30-yard shot, but Seitz made the easy save.
Brown nearly created a fluke goal in the last 10 seconds, when the Bears managed to block Seitz's punt. The referees, however, blew the play dead and Seitz placed the ball at the top of the box and began waving goodbye to the contingent of the Brown fans as time ran off the clock.
While Bruno was unable to pull out the win, it did manage to hold Garey without a point, the first team to do so since Sept. 25.
"Matt and Rhett Bernstein '09, our two central defenders, did an outstanding job," Noonan said. "I don't think there are better central defenders in the country than Matt Britner ... I thought Matt did an outstanding job and I thought that Rhett Bernstein, his partner, was up to the task as well. Jason Garey is a very good player, but its not just one player. This whole Maryland team is a very talented side and it's well coached and we wish them well."
The margin for shots in the second half was much closer, with the Terps taking three shots compared to two for the Bears. Brown, however, was far better at earning corner kicks, taking six on the night, while Maryland had only one.
Although the team was upset by the loss, Caldwell was able to see the silver lining.
"I think now we're disappointed obviously, but looking back a year or two down the road, I think we're going to say it was a great year and we lost to a very good team," he said. "We gave them a run for their money and almost tied it up at the end, but we only graduate a few players and these guys should be able to start over next year."
