Dec. 13, 2008

FRISCO, Texas - North Carolina will face a very familiar foe Sunday when it meets Maryland at Pizza Hut Park with the national championship on the line. The Tar Heels (15-7-1) and Terrapins (22-3-0) have met twice already this season, with Maryland earning back-to-back one-goal victories in early November.

Since those losses extended Carolina's losing skid to five games, the Tar Heels have played with a sense of urgency needed to make a deep postseason run. UNC has won four straight one-goal matches and has posted shutouts in three of four NCAA tourney outings.

"Simply put, I just think we woke up," said senior midfielder Garry Lewis when asked about his team's turnaround at Saturday's press conference. "I guess we knew that everything was on the line, and it was either win or go home.

"We had our backs toward the wall, and we have a lot of seniors. A lot of our guys showed leadership, and we just came together at the right time. We hit a few bumps in the road, but once the postseason began we just all came to a new level. We knew it was do or die."

In Friday's win over No. 1 seed Wake Forest, Carolina got an early goal from leading scorer Brian Shriver - the fifth different Tar Heel to score in the postseason - and the defense took over from there. Anchored by the play of center back Ryan Adeleye and goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty, Carolina held the nation's highest scoring team scoreless for just the second time this season.

Wake Forest entered Friday's game with an 81-16 scoring margin on the season.

Adeleye and the rest of the defense will look to replicate that performance against a Maryland side that has logged a 49-18 advantage on the scoreboard in 2008. "You just have to defend like you know how to, and each of us just has to do our job," said Adeleye. "Brooks (Haggerty) played really well yesterday, along with the rest of the defenders, and we really just have to continue to do our job well and just really give the effort that you need to on defense, which is a lot. Just do our job, nothing special, just what we always do."

The Tar Heels, who are facing the same team three times in a season for the first time since 1990, are in search of their first win over Maryland since 2003. Head coach Elmar Bolowich and his team have a great deal of respect for a Terrapin program that has excelled in the postseason over the last few years.

"Well there is a reason why they're here - they're a really strong team," said Bolowich. "They have a good balance just like all the four teams that were here. They have very few weaknesses and if we can find them, great, and I hope we do. They're strong and experienced coming off a national championship in 2005. They have been going very deep in the playoffs in the last 10 to 12 years, too. Sasho (Cirovski) has done a very good job, so they are really well organized. It will be another close game. It will be one of those typical ACC matches that you'll see."

The ACC has been the nation's best soccer league in recent years and this year has proven no different. The conference will capture its third title in the last four years - and fourth this decade - regardless of Sunday's outcome. The Carolina-Maryland tilt marks the first time that a pair of ACC sides will meet in the title game.

With a win, Carolina will become the first team since UCLA in 1997 to beat both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds at the College Cup.