Double-overtime thriller sees IU through to title game

CARSON, Calif. -- Pure emptiness.\nThat's what shot through Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski when the clock struck 48 seconds in the second overtime of Friday's semifinal match.\nPure excitement.\nThat's what overcame sophomore midfielder John Michael Hayden when the clock struck 48 seconds and he witnessed his header tickle the back of the net.\nIn one fleeting moment, two opposing emotions took control over two opposing teams. Alongside those 48 seconds left on the clock, burning a hole in the Maryland squad that had fought so hard, the scoreboard read: IU-3, Maryland-2. \nIt took 109 minutes and 12 seconds to decide, but when the IU men's soccer team's semifinal match against Maryland was finally finished, the Hoosiers had successfully secured their place in the championship game for the second year in a row.\n"That was two outstanding programs and two outstanding teams who left it all out on the field," said IU coach Mike Freitag. "I don't think the crowd can ask for anything more."\nExcitement was nowhere to be found at halftime when the Hoosiers entered the locker room down 1-0. Maryland's Jason Garey set the team record for points in a season when he deflected a pass from Abe Thompson past a defenseless senior goalkeeper Jay Nolly. \nThe score could have very well been far worse, and Garey could have moved well past his record mark had two close attempts in the final 10 minutes of the half gone in. The best opportunity being when Garey had a fast break and chipped a ball over an approaching Nolly, only to watch it roll just a few feet wide of the far post.\n"I thought we were tentative in the first half," Freitag said. "We didn't go and make things happen. We played alright but we really weren't getting after it."\nThe Hoosiers came out in the second half as though the past 45 minutes had been a distant memory. Quickly jumping out as the aggressor, junior midfielder Brian Plotkin found himself standing behind a free-kick from 20 yards out after drawing the whistle himself on the previous play.\nPlotkin struck a low ball that found its way through the Maryland wall and directly into the lower left hand corner of the net. The last goal Plotkin had scored was against Michigan on Oct. 10.\n"Drew Moor's dad kept asking me when I was going to get a goal," Plotkin said. "I made sure to find him right after the game."\nNearly 20 minutes later junior forward Mike Ambersley ended a scoring drought of his own when he received a pass from senior midfielder Danny O'Rourke, shook his defender and drilled a shot to the far side-netting.\n"That was a huge weight off my shoulders," Ambersley said. "I think I put a little too much pressure on myself this year to come back and make a big impact, even though things weren't going my way for a while, this makes up for it."\nThe 2-1 lead for IU stood until the 80th minute when Maryland had its best opportunity of the second half. Michael Dello-Russo delivered a corner kick that found the head of Maryland's Maurice Edu. The leaping header by Edu then hit paydirt in the upper right-hand corner of IU's net.\n"After that goal nobody got down," Plotkin said. "Nobody said a word about that goal, we just got the ball down and started back up."\nWith the game tied and the Hoosiers needing a hero, a familiar face stepped up to the challenge. IU's Hayden clinched five straight games with winning goals earlier in the season, so when O'Rourke lobbed a ball up for grabs and only seconds remaining on the clock, Hayden was once again there to answer the call.\n"I want this national championship more than anything," O'Rourke said. "I just tried to lead by example tonight and the guys responded." \n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu