Tar Heels Start, Finish Strong Against UNC-G

Five games into the North Carolina men's soccer season, UNC players may have a tough time distinguishing between 2000 and 2001.

Sean McGinty scored two first-half goals, but UNC struggled to hold on to beat UNC-Greensboro 2-1 on Sunday at Fetzer Field.

"We've yet to play a full 90-minute game this season," McGinty said.

North Carolina (4-1) played UNC-G after this weekend's Nike Carolina Classic was canceled because of Tuesday's tragedies. The Tar Heels were supposed to play New Hampshire and West Virginia this weekend, but neither team made the trip to Chapel Hill.

So UNC played the Spartans (1-2), the other team scheduled to play in the tournament.

North Carolina was 6-1 after last year's tournament but had struggled to decisively put away lesser opponents. And despite taking an early lead and dictating play throughout, UNC could not finish pesky UNC-G.

Leading 2-0 in the game's 43rd minute, McGinty touched the ball ahead to a streaking Ryan Kneipper, who gathered the ball left of the six-yard box. Kneipper pulled his shot right, and the ball rolled all the way to the far sideline.

UNC-G quickly restarted and moved the ball into the Tar Heel defensive third. The Spartans earned a corner kick, and Alejandro Moreno quickly bicycle kicked Kenny Bundy's bounding corner past UNC goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey.

It was just the Spartans' third shot of the match. North Carolina, meanwhile, had taken 12 shots.

"We had chances to go up 3-0 several times," McGinty said. "They got a goal that gave them some momentum."

The Tar Heels had several other chances in the second half to pad their lead, including a Mike Gell shot in the 84th minute that bounced off the left post.

But UNC found itself counting on Ueltschey in the game's final minutes. UNC-G pushed forward against a sagging Tar Heel defense and nearly managed to tie the game, putting three shots on goal in the game's last four minutes.

Ueltschey came out to contend each attempt and prevented the kind of late-game score that cost UNC its last game, a 2-1 loss at Saint Louis on Sept. 9. Last season, the Tar Heels' first loss came at Alabama-Birmingham, also on a goal in the game's last minute.

"That shows the necessary leadership it takes," UNC coach Elmar Bolowich said of Ueltschey's effort. "He was sure and decisive. There was an uncertainty at the end of the game."

UNC cruised to its early lead and looked like it would dominate UNC-G. A cutting McGinty redirected Raymond Fumo's through-ball past Spartan goalie Charlie DeMello in the 7th minute. Fourteen minutes later, McGinty rebounded his own header before into the back of the net for a 2-0 Tar Heel lead.

"Last year we had a decisive win against Duke, and that's where we learned to win," Ueltschey said.

"I think we need one big win."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.