Bring on the College Cup! Pereira Sends U-M Past No. 3 Maryland in OT

Saturday, December 4

College Park, Md.

1:00 PM

Michigan

17-4-3

Maryland

19-3-1

OT 3

OT 4

Michigan

Maryland

Fabio Pereira

Bring on the College Cup! Pereira Sends U-M Past No. 3 Maryland in OT

12/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score PDF Boxscore Photos

By: Jessica Poole

Site: College Park, Md. (Ludwig Field)
Event: NCAA Tournament (Quarterfinals)
Score: #19 Michigan 3, #3 Maryland 2 (2OT)
Records: U-M (17-4-3), Maryland (19-3-1)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Dec. 10 -- vs. Akron - College Cup Semifinals (Santa Barbara, Calif.), 8 p.m. PST

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Freshman midfielder Fabio Pereira's (Sao Paulo, Brazil/South Kent School [Conn.]) goal at 103:18 clinched the No. 19-ranked University of Michigan men's soccer team a berth into the NCAA College Cup (Dec. 10-12) in a 3-2 overtime win at No. 3 Maryland on Saturday (Dec. 4) at Ludwig Field. The Wolverines advance to the College Cup for the first time in program history.

Senior defenseman Jeffrey Quijano (Canoga Park, Calf./Canoga) and senior forward Justin Meram (Shelby Township, Mich./Eisenhower) scored 10 minutes apart in the second half, but U-M relinquished a 2-1 lead following a Maryland goal in the 79th minute. However, the Wolverines improved to 5-0-3 in overtime this season on Pereira's first career goal. Sophomore midfielder Hamoody Saad (Dearborn, Mich./Dearborn) made a run up the left side and into the box before feeding a pass to Pereira, who, as he was falling, slid the game-winner into the bottom right of the cage.

Freshman Soony Saad (Dearborn, Mich./Dearborn) led the team in shots with five. Michigan received assists from Quijano, sophomore defenseman Kofi Opare (Niagara Falls, Ontario/St. Paul) and Hamoody Saad. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Chris Blais (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy Memorial) made seven saves and picked up his fifth career overtime win.

Michigan trailed 1-0 heading into halftime after a Maryland goal from Casey Townsend in the 17th minute.

U-M had a great opportunity to tie the game with a shot from Meram, who received the ball in the right corner from senior midfielder Alex Wood (Northville, Mich./Northville) and had a fantastic look at an open left corner of the goal, but his shot was sent just wide of the net.

Quijano evened the score in the 50th minute of action with his first goal of the season. The defensive stalwart made an outstanding overlapping run from his left defender position to get into the offense and, after a shot was deflected off the head of Opare, the ball found its way onto Quijano's foot for the equalizer just 4:31 into the second half. Exactly 10 minutes later, Meram extended his goal scoring streak to nine consecutive games with his 16 goal of the season, connecting on a well played ball out of the back from Quijano and placing it out of the reach of Maryland's goalkeeper Zac McGrath for the 2-1 U-M lead.

Blais, who made five first-half saves, then came up with some highlight-reel saves, including stopping several point-blank shots in the Michigan box.

Michigan moves onto the College Cup for the first time in program history. The College Cup will be held Dec. 10-12 in Santa Barbara, Calif. Michigan will play No. 2 Akron in the national semifinals on Friday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m. PST (11 p.m. EST) on ESPNU or ESPN2, and if the Wolverines advance they will move into the final on Sunday, Dec. 12, at 1 p.m. PST (4 p.m. EST) on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.

All-session passes for the College Cup are priced at $40 and are on sale through the U-M ticket office until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7, by calling 866/296-6849 or 734/764-0247 during regular business hours. More information is available at UCSB's College Cup site.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	OT	OT	F
Michigan	0	2	0	1	3
Maryland	1	1	0	0	2

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- MD, Casey Towensend 16:49 (Billy Cortes)
2nd -- U-M, Jeffrey Quijano, 49:31 (Kofi Opare)
2nd -- U-M, Justin Meram, 59:31 (Quijano)
2nd -- MD, Jason Herrick, 78:59 (Matt Kassel, Taylor Kemp)
OT -- U-M, Fabio Pereira, 103:18 (Hamoody Saad)

Shots: U-M 18, MD 33
Shots on Goal: U-M 8, MD 9
Saves: U-M 7 (Chris Blais), MD 5 (Zac MacMath 4, Team 1)
Corner Kicks: U-M 4, MD 7
Fouls: U-M 11, MD 10
Cards: U-M, Soony Saad, 72:13 (Yellow); U-M, Jeffrey Quijano, 90:00 (Yellow); MD, Alex Lee, 90:00 (Yellow).

NOTES

• U-M advances to the College Cup for the first time in the program's 11-year history.

• U-M is the last Big Ten team left in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Prior to the third round, the Big Ten advanced each of its teams selected to the national tournament. The last time the Big Ten had a team in the College Cup was in the 2007 season, when Ohio State was the runner-up.

• This was the first meeting between Michigan and Maryland. Each of U-M's opponents in the 2010 NCAA Tournament was a first-time opponent. U-M has a 3-0-2 record against first-time opponents this season.

• U-M moves to 2-2-1 on the road in NCAA play and 6-3-0 overall in NCAA Tournament games.

• Michigan tied the single-season record for road wins in the season, picking up the fifth road win, and tied the single-season record for longest unbeaten streak, running the current streak to nine consecutive games.

• This was Michigan's second all-time double-overtime game in NCAA Tournament action. The Wolverines also went into double overtime in 2003 when they advanced against Notre Dame on penalty kicks.

• Senior forward Justin Meram extended his scoring streak to nine consecutive games. The last game Meram was held scoreless was against Akron on Oct. 19, also U-M's last loss. He has scored 11 goals in U-M's last nine games and today was also Meram's 22nd birthday.

• Michigan moved to 5-0-3 in overtime games this season -- 2-0 in NCAA Tournament play in extra time. The Wolverines have played eight overtime games this season; the most overtime games in program history is nine in the 2004 season.

• Michigan snapped Maryland's 15-game winning streak in today's contest. Additionally, Michigan forced Maryland to play from behind for the first time all season when the Terps have scored first, as they did in today's contest.

• For the first time in the last nine games, U-M was outshot in the second half. Maryland posted 16 second-half shots to U-M's seven. Entering the game, U-M was outshooting its opponents 221-169 on the season and 28-19 in NCAA Championship action.

• Fabio Pereira scored his first career goal with his game-winner in today's contest. Pereira has seen action in 20 games at midfield this season with 12 starts.

• Soony Saad was held scoreless in today's game. Saad is currently No. 2 in the nation in scoring with 19 goals on the year.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On the win ... "Amazing! Absolutely amazing. This was no easy feat for us today to come into Maryland and beat a team of their pedigree on their home field with a bid to the College Cup on the line and to have to come back from a goal down at the half. When you factor all of that together, I think you see we have a pretty special group of men. I couldn't be more proud of them and happy for Michigan."

On the game ... "We had some great chances in the first half and Chris Blais was on top of his game. That set everyone at ease even though we were down a goal. Maryland is a pressing team that plays a rather direct style and it took us a while to find our rhythm. We made a couple of adjustments at the halftime break that allowed our outside backs to get further into the attack. Jeffrey Quijano played like the leader he is and really lit up the right side of the field. His goal was exactly what we needed and his unrelenting energy completely lifted the team. He earned Man of the Match honors for us in a big way."

On the goals ... "It was Justin's birthday today and you just knew he was going to score, but what a great goal. He hit a left-footed cracker in stride from a tough angle to beat their keeper to the far post. In the first overtime, we caught a couple of breaks, as Maryland had some good looks at our goal. The game-winner came from Hamoody Saad on the left side as he latched onto a ball and made a great move to get behind their defense and square a ball across the face of the goal to Fabio Pereira at the back post. What a great time for the kid to score his first goal for Michigan!"