College Park, MD – Another empty stadium at Ludwig field witnessed Maryland beating Charlotte 2-1 in OT. After three poorly played games by MD, a disappointing 5-3 loss to Clemson on Friday; a scrappy 1-0 win against Binghamton last Tuesday and a 4-2 drubbing against #1 ranked WF 10 days ago, MD dominated play in the first half without scoring a goal. Charlotte scored right after half time. But, MD was able to even the game midway through the second half. In OT, it was all MD’s way.
Starting Lineups:
Charlotte Lineup: 4-4-2.
G: David Martin
D: Josh Norwood, Isaac Cowles, Charles Rodriquez, Ryan Swaim
M: Isaac Caughran, Jason Hawes, Luke Exley, Adam Gross
F: Evan James, Chris Salvaggione
MD Lineup: Playing a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield
GK: Zac MacMath
Def: Rich Costanzo, Omar Gonzalez, A. J. Delagarza, Rodney Wallace
MF: Jeremy Hall, Matt Kassel, Drew Yates, Doug Rodkey
Fwd: Casey Townsend, Jason Herrick
Charlotte observations:
Charlotte offense is predicated upon getting the ball behind the defense to the fleet duo of senior Chris Salvaggione and freshman Evan James. That is how Charlotte scored.
Freshman Isaac Caughran sent in a long pass behind Omar Gonzalez onto James’s path. With freshman MD goal keeper Zac MacMath coming out to close the angle, James was able to slot the ball into the goal in the 47th minute.
Caughran has speed to get to the end line and serves a nice cross.
Junior midfielder Luke Exley has good ball skills.
Junior goal keeper David Martin made several game saving stops to keep this game close.
Senior Ryan Swaim cleared a ball off the line in the 40th minute.
Charlotte seems hesitate to play. Instead sitting back with 8 in the back hoping to counter. Charlotte is a young team and doesn’t seem confident that they belong playing the likes of MD.
MD observations:
MD dominated the first half, but Charlotte went to the locker room even.
Junior midfielder Doug Rodkey missed several opportunities early in the first half. The biggest miss was a cross from sophomore left back Rodney Wallace that Rodkey hit wide right. Rodkey had an opportunity to salvage his half dribbling into the box, but his shot was right at the goal keeper and was easily saved.
Senior AM Graham Zusi is having a poor game.
It was good to see sophomore center back Kevin Tagney get most of the minutes in the second half after suffering an ACL in each knee in the last 2 seasons.
Junior left midfielder Jeremy Hall evened the score in the 62th minute. The play started with a Matt Kassel corner kick to Rodney Wallace’s head. His shot was blocked and Tagney shot the ball but it was blocked. Freshman forward Casey Townsend’s shot was blocked before Hall hit the rebound for the score.
In the the 96th minute, Jason Herrick (who could have been given a second yellow card in the 68th minute) got the ball wide to Hall who delivered an accurate cross to the far side. Townsend hit the ball with the inside of his foot on a full volley with power.
Prior to this Townsend was having a hard time scoring on open shots – he needs to finish his chances.
