COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Maryland Terrapins broke their 2-season streak of exiting in the third round of the NCAA tournament, finishing off the California Golden Bears 2-1 and moving on to the Elite Eight. This is their first trip this deep into the tournament since 2005, and that year they won the National Championship, so Terps' spirits are especially high tonight.

Maryland essentially won the game by dominating the first half. The second half was more even, and perhaps the intensity advantage might even have been credited to Cal, but the Bears were on their heels for most of the first 45 minutes. After the game, Cal coach Kevin Grimes seemed to echo that sentiment, "It was really a tight match, but I give Maryland credit. I thought they played a really good game, especially in the first half."*

The Terrapins came out blasting, and scored their first goal at the 18:41 mark, on their third very good look at the net. Omar Gonzalez used his height advantage to head in a ball off a corner kick from Graham Zusi. Because of Ludwig Field's role as a tournament host, the normal Terrapins post-goal festivities have to be muted in deference to the visiting team. Nonetheless, the Terps fans made their feelings known as their team advanced the scoreboard first.

Prior to that play, freshman Casey Townsend had been wreaking havoc with the Bears defense, working several balls deep and putting them into scoring position. Townsend would have some injury trouble later in the half, and was encouraged by Head Coach Sasho Cirovski -- using that special vocabulary that head coaches have at their disposal -- to stay tough and in the game so as not to disrupt the carefully planned substitution regime. Townsend did as bidded, but was not able to maintain the same level of play until after some halftime treatment.

The Terps took the slight 1-0 lead into the halftime, but the scoreboard belied a more important advantage for Maryland, which was their domination in more esoteric statistics like possession time, field position, and overall determination to win the game. They out-shot the Bears 6-4 in the half and had a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks as well.

Not too long into the second half, the Bears would emerge as the team that deserved to be playing in the third round of the tournament. They took over the last part of the half, and throughout the second half out-shot the Terrapins 9-6.

Before that momentum shift, however, the Terrapins added what would turn out to be their insurance goal, at the 52:26 mark, as Jeremy Hall finished off a Cal deflection into the corner of the net. Perhaps it was the 2-0 advantage that woke up the Bears, and unfortunately for them the Maryland defense held well enough to prevent a second half comeback.

The Bears played their hearts out in the closing minutes of the match, scoring a goal at the 67:37 mark and keeping the intensity up. On the goal, Maryland keeper Zac MacMath committed to a stop and was beat, and Andrew Wiedeman flicked it over the defense towards the net. Terrapins defender Omar Gonzalez had one crack at it but the trajectory simply didn't allow him to get the right angle on the ball, and he ended up diverting but not stopping the ball on its path into the net. The Bears continued to turn every defensive stop into an up-tempo offensive attack, and instilled a sense of urgency into their throw-ins and goalie kicks.

MacMath made a number of remarkable saves, including one his coach commented on, "Zac (MacMath) made a save on our end that kept us in it and you saw the emergence of a great young goalkeeper here.”

MacMath himself commented on the defensive strategy Maryland brought to bear to close out the contest, "Defend like our lives depended on it. I have confidence in every player on our team and I knew we’d go on to win and that’s all I needed to know."

The Terrapins did not completely abandon the offense, and in fact were very successful very near the goal, keeping a 4-1 second half advantage in corner kicks. In the end, they had enough offense to clear out a margin and enough defense to hold on to it against a very potent California team.

Maryland now advances to the Elite Eight, and they are matched against #7 Creighton, who moved forward with a 2-1 win over Connecticut today. Both teams have a week to rest up and prepare, as the match will be played on Saturday December 6 at 1 pm.

* Quotes courtesy of the NCAA