Physical play marks opening of ACC season

Cameron Brown's No. 15 North Carolina soccer jersey was tarnished with grass stains and it wasn't because he hadn't washed his uniform recently.

Rather it was because he along with virtually all his teammates had spent much of the Tar Heels' game against N.C. State on his back.

The name of the game is physicality in ACC soccer and Friday night the Wolfpack brought just that.

In fact" they brought 14 fouls and three yellow cards worth.

 ""Every player wants to fight for their starting spot"" Brown said after the game.

Every player is going to want to put that effort out and not let you walk right by them. We learned to accept it because it was going to happen and keep happening.""

From the opening whistle" those words told the story of the game. Repeatedly during the first half N.C. State defenders and midfielders were going to the ground with slide tackles against the Tar Heels.

And at the 34-minute mark in the first half things started getting dicey.

At that point N.C. State's Alan Sanchez was whistled for a foul in his team's attacking third of the field.

Sanchez picked up the ball and threw it straight into the air — the second time he had done so during the game.

His antics brought a yellow card and enormous boos from the crowd but they also did something else.

 They turned a methodical controlled game back into the fiery rivalry usually displayed in UNC-N.C. State matches — last year the two teams recorded a combine 32 fouls in one game.

Each team's adrenaline stepped up a notch and three minutes later North Carolina first-year John Niyonsaba in his first game action saw the yellow.

A loose ball popped up near the midfield stripe and Niyonsaba and N.C. State's Lucas Carpenter crashed together the cleats of each player ramming into the other's hamstring.

As the second half got under way and with N.C. State then nursing a 1-0 lead the Wolfpack switched to an even more conservative 4-5-1 holding back more midfielders than usual.

The approach left eight or nine men behind the ball at times" but Tar Heel attackers still were finding creases through the defense.

The problem was that a beaten Wolfpack defense would forcefully drag Tar Heels down by the jersey or arm.

""They had to foul a couple times"" coach Elmar Bolowich commented after the game.

 Because otherwise it would have been a breakaway for us.""

But the Tar Heels stayed focused. And although two more yellow cards were administered to the Wolfpack (and one to UNC's Zach Loyd) before the game ended"" UNC's overall calmness provided immense dividends in its victory.

 ""I'm very proud of the guys that they stayed the course"" said Bolowich after the game. They didn't lose their temper; they didn't retaliate. We just moved on in the game.""



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