Men's soccer gets by Hoyas in penalty kicks

In the first 10-minute overtime of the North Carolina men’s soccer team’s second-round NCAA Tournament matchup against Georgetown, sophomore Alex Walters took a well-played ball in the midfield and juked a Hoya defender.

Rather than immediately shooting from his look on goal, Walters waited and then shot a rocket that bounced off the crossbar. The game’s 0-0 tie was destined to continue.

But after yet another physical bout of overtime, it was Walters who would send the final penalty shot into the back of the net to advance North Carolina 5-4 in a penalty-kick shootout.

“Our team gave a great effort to hold them off,” Walters said. “I knew we wouldn’t give up a goal so at least we were going to get PKs, so I knew we would all need to step up in that time.”

As UNC matched Georgetown 2-2 in PKs, Seth C’deBaca’s third attempt for the Hoyas was met by the strong instincts of UNC keeper Scott Goodwin.

The key save gave UNC an edge that was maintained with goals by sophomores Enzo Martinez and Walters to hand the Tar Heels their first shootout win since 1992.

A solid Hoya defense kept UNC off the board in a dominant first half for the Tar Heels. North Carolina registered eight attempts at the Hoyas’ goal compared to Georgetown’s two in the first 45 minutes.

“They defended as a team, they were tight,” UNC coach Elmar Bolowich said. “They made it very, very difficult for us and as a result the game goes down officially as a tie, with us advancing on PKs.”

Post-halftime, fatigue hit the constantly working midfield hard, especially without the control of senior Michael Farfan.

The All-ACC midfielder sat out Sunday’s match due to a red card sustained in the ACC title game. His spot as UNC’s fifth PK shooter was the reason Walters, who normally holds the sixth spot, took the final penalty kick.

The Hoyas’ offense caught on to UNC’s first-half command and responded with a host of crosses in an attempt to take a lead.

But senior Jalil Anibaba, the All-ACC backline leader for the Tar Heels, was there to keep the game locked down as a draw.

Georgetown’s offense was defined by a series of narrow misses in the Hoyas’ aggressive second half, most of which were handled by Anibaba’s sound awareness of the field and Goodwin’s presence of mind in the net.

“There’s something about our defense that makes me result back to the fact that I feel like we’ll never give up a goal,” Anibaba said. “We always kind of find a way to get to the last ball or get behind the ball on the back post.”

UNC moves to the sweet sixteen of the tournament to face Michigan State on Sunday, adding Farfan back to the midfield as a polished scorer.

“From this moment on, all the games will be tough,” Bolowich said. “Having Michael back helps us obviously, but what it does for the game — that’s another matter. That’s what we need to see.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.