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CARY, N.C. – The sixth-seeded Virginia men’s soccer team was eliminated from the ACC Tournament, Friday falling in the semifinals to second-seeded Maryland 2-0 at WakeMed Soccer Park. It marked the second time in the past two weeks the No. 13 Cavaliers have fallen to No. 3 Maryland by a 2-0 score. Virginia will enter the NCAA Tournament with an 11-5-3 record while the Terps advance to Sunday’s ACC final against either top-seeded North Carolina or No. 5 seed Boston College with a 16-2-1 mark.

The Terrapins had the game’s first good scoring chance when Casey Townsend banged a header off the cross bar from 10 yards out 21 minutes into the match.

Maryland got its first goal at the 36:34 mark when forward Jason Herrick gathered in a rebound four yards in front of the Cavaliers’ net and booted the ball past UVa keeper Diego Restrepo. It was the first time in five career ACC tournament matches that Restrepo, last year’s tourney MVP, allowed a goal.

Virginia had an opportunity to tie the match one minute before halftime when Cavalier midfielder Felipe Libreros was tackled in the box setting up a penalty kick. UVa midfielder Ari Dimas’ low shot to the left corner was stopped by Terrapin keeper Zac MacMath.

“That’s the first time I recall Ari ever missing one of those,” said Virginia coach George Gelnovatch. “I thought we played hard, and I thought we played well. I don’t think we deserved to lose 2-0.”

Maryland put the match away in the 71st minute off of a free kick when Herrick took a pass from Taylor Kemp five yards in front of the Cavalier net and one-timed it past Restrepo.

“In our last game Maryland scored on two restarts and today they scored on two restarts again,” Gelnovatch said. “I don’t know if we will see them again, depending on the NCAA brackets, but they are very good at scoring on restarts and that was the story tonight.”

Restrepo finished with one save while MacMath recorded four stops. Virginia outshot the Terrapins 11 to 10. It was Maryland’s 12th shutout this year.

The loss ended Virginia’s postseason unbeaten steak at nine games. The 2009 ACC and NCAA Champions, UVa had won its last five matches at WakeMed Soccer Park.

#6 Virginia vs. #2 Maryland
#6 Virginia 0 0 – 0
#2 Maryland 1 1 – 2

Scoring Summary
Maryland – Herrick (Townsend) 4′
Maryland – Herrick (Kemp) 5′

Shots: UVa 11, Maryland 10
Corner Kicks: UVa 3, Maryland 2
Saves: UVa 1 (Restrepo 1), Maryland 4 (MacMath 4)
Offsides: UVa 0, Maryland 3

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