Do the Zac MacMath and it adds up to a Terrapin win.

The defending National Champion Maryland Terrapins men’s soccer team returned to the Elite 8 with wins over Loyola, Penn State, and Harvard.  The Terps came into the tournament ranked #5 in the country, but they were unseeded after losing in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.  Due to their low seeding, the Terps have had to play every game past the first round on the road.

The Terps travel to Charlottesville to take on UVA this weekend.  The Wahoos secured the 2 seed in the national tournament by winning the ACC Championship this year.  Shell Games is sending its entire staff to Charlottesville on Saturday for the Phish concert live postgame reactions.  That is just the kind of service this blog provides to its readers.

I can’t locate a Vegas line on this game, but I’ll throw some high level criteria together that make it sound like a well thought pregame analysis:

• Maryland was ranked #5 in the country at the end of the regular season and UVA was #6, so the national pollsters view this game as an even match-up (Advantage = Push)
• UVA won the ACC Championship, UMD is the defending National Champion, so both teams are good in the big games (Advantage = Push)
• UVA is at home, which should give them a 1 goal advantage (Advantage = UVA)
• The teams tied 0-0 in 2OT in their regular season meeting on Halloween, but UVA beat the Terps 1-0 in the ACC tournament (Advantage = UVA)

Add it all up, and UVA enjoys a .5 goals/gm advantage in their two match-ups this season, and a 1 goal advantage for being at home.  I’m putting the line at UVA -1.5 over UMD, with the O/U at 3 goals.

Of course, I predict a MARYLAND UPSET!  WHAT’S UP NOW WAHOOS!  The Terps will get a late goal to STUN the ACC Champion Cavaliers.  They will go on to defeat Wake Forest and UNC on the way to a repeat National Championship.  YEAH BABY, GO TERPS!

I’m droppin’ science like Galileo dropped the orange.