Terps end drought in ACC tournament 13-8 win puts Maryland in first final since '93

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Yes, Maryland learned its lesson.

Last week, the Terrapins had their most dismal offensive performance in the fourth quarter against Johns Hopkins. Last night, Maryland responded in the final period and never looked back.

Scoring six times in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the fourth, the No. 2 Terps broke open a tie game and rolled to a 13-8 win over No. 14 North Carolina in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament at Klockner Stadium. Andrew Whipple sparked the seven-goal fourth and finished with five goals and three assists for a career-best eight points.

Maryland (9-1), which won its first ACC tournament game since 1993, will play Virginia in the final tomorrow. It's also the first loss for North Carolina (4-7) against the Terps in the nine-year history of the tournament.

"Our nine seniors basically took over this past week and reminded our guys how we played the first eight weeks of the season and that we were going to get back on track tonight," Maryland coach Dick Edell said. "Well, I almost had a heart attack waiting for that until the fourth quarter, when they had three quarters to get it done."

The game featured four ties, and neither team could pull ahead by more than two goals for the first three quarters. And heading into the fourth, Edell peered up at the scoreboard, which read 6-6 -- the same score after three quarters last week against Hopkins -- and some painful memories came to mind.

But unlike last week, the Terps moved the ball and their feet offensively, creating high-percentage opportunities.

Just 15 seconds into the fourth, Scott Hochstadt scored from 10 yards out on a fast break to give the Terps a 7-6 lead. And 34 seconds after that, Erik Osberg found Matt Hahn, who rolled off a pick and nailed the wide-open, 5-yard shot.

Running tally: two shots, two goals in 49 seconds.

"When we move off ball, we're hard to stop," Maryland offensive coordinator Scott Marr said. "I think coming in, this was a must win for us to show how we would come back from last week. Those two goals really gave us a boost."

Curling off that same screen, Hahn took a pass from Whipple and buried it into the low left corner of the goal. That made the Terps 3-for-3 and put them ahead 9-7 three minutes into the fourth.

After the Tar Heels closed to 9-8, the Terps again revved up the attack, converting three straight shots in a span of 47 seconds. Hahn, who had five goals, capped that run by taking another pass from Whipple and tagged the 6-yard shot into the upper right corner, giving Maryland a 12-8 advantage with 9: 27 left.

"They were getting a lot better shots in the fourth quarter," Carolina goalkeeper Jarron Harkness said. "When they're shooting from a yard away, it's tough to save the ball."

As in the fourth, Maryland dominated the opening quarter offensively but without similar results. Although the Terps outshot Carolina 15-2, they didn't finish their chances and only held a 3-1 lead.

The Terps jumped back into their mode of holding the ball for the next two quarters, allowing the Tar Heels to battle back.

Carolina went on a 3-1 run to tie the game at 4 with 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half. For the next 21 minutes, Maryland would score and the Tar Heels would answer, tying the game at 5 and 6.

But then came the fourth, when the Terps proved too efficient by scoring on seven of their 11 shots.

"I'm proud of our effort for the first 45 minutes," North Carolina coach Dave Klarmann said. "We're still not quite there to put in a full game against the top teams. We're close, but just not there yet."

UNC .....1 3 2 2 -- 8

Maryland 3 2 1 7 -- 13

Goals: UNC--Bowman 3, Martin, Sonke, Walsh, Carey, Crofton; UM--Whipple 5, Hahn 5, Zeller, Hanna, Hochstadt. Assists: UNC--Martin, Sonke, Bowman, Kohart, Crofton; UM--Whipple 3, Radin 2, Osberg 2, Ruhl, Hahn. Saves: UNC--Harkness 11; UM--Healy 10.

Four and out

Before moving into the championship game last night, Maryland hadn't advanced to an ACC tournament final since 1993, losing in the first round the past four years:

Year Opponent ... ..Result

1994 North Carolina L, 8-7

1995 North Carolina L, 14-9

1996 Virginia ... ..L, 13-9

1997 Duke ... ......L, 17-10

Pub Date: 4/18/98