FROM STAFF REPORTS
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Traverse City West grad Casey Townsend scored the game-winning goal as Maryland advanced to the national quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over Harvard.
The Terrapins will now face Virginia on Friday with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
Maryland (15-5-2) moved its record to 12-0 when scoring first when Townsend scored the game-winner at 10:45. After Billy Cortes battled down the near sideline, Taylor Kemp found the ball at his feet and shook a Crimson defender at the corner flag. Kemp then crossed the ball into the center of the box for Townsend, whose strike wedged in between the top of keeper Austin Harms' hands and the cross bar for a 1-0 Maryland lead.
The goal is the sophomore forward's sixth of the 2009 campaign and second in NCAA tournament play.
He missed most of the regular season with an ankle injury and came back just before the NCAA tournament. He also notched a goal in a 2-1 win over Loyola (Md.) and has scored the Terps' first goal of the NCAA tourney in each of the last two seasons.
Zac MacMath made five critical saves to aid the Maryland's cause against Harvard.
Reigning national champion Maryland outshot Harvard 15-12 on the match, including a decisive 12-5 advantage in the second half. The shutout win is Maryland's ninth this season. The Terps are now 42-23-4 in NCAA Tournament history and have advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight six times in the last eight years.
Virginia dethroned defending ACC champion Maryland, 1-0, in the quarterfinals of this year's ACC Tournament in the last meeting between the two storied programs.
