As the North Carolina men’s soccer team celebrated making history as the program’s first team to earn a regular season ACC title last Friday, a goal stayed in each and every one of the players’ minds: winning the ACC Tournament.
“Since we won (the regular season), everyone is expecting us to win the tournament, but that’s not really how it is,” sophomore Enzo Martinez said. “We don’t expect anything, but we will work for a win.”
UNC will face No. 7-seed N.C. State today at 5:30 p.m. in the Tar Heels’ first step to the title as the No. 1 seed. But this game is more than just the next step to achieving their goal — it’s personal.
The Wolfpack dropped UNC in penalty kicks 4-1 in the quarterfinals of last year’s ACC Tournament.
“State’s a little bit harder to predict as far as they get ramped up for our game,” goalie Scott Goodwin said. “They’re kind of all over the place — they’re definitely more unpredictable. I’m looking forward to playing them. I think it’s going to be a good game. Especially get a little bit of rematch from last year, too.”
This year’s Wolfpack took an extremely physical 6-3 victory against a last-seeded Virginia Tech squad Tuesday to earn a spot in tonight’s game. Six different N.C. State players registered goals in the win against a Hokie team playing both with two different goalies and a man-down after an ejection.
N.C. State’s versatility is something North Carolina hasn’t exactly seen from the Wolfpack this season. UNC notched a 1-0 win against N.C. State in its ACC opener in early September.
But even in UNC’s win, N.C. State was relentless, pushing for a goal in a late surge that kept possession moving toward Goodwin in goal. Despite finishing eighth in the ACC at 1-5-2, the Wolfpack earned two double-overtime ties against Duke and Wake Forest.
“N.C. State now is a different team than they were in the beginning of the year,” UNC coach Elmar Bolowich said. “They use different personnel. There are several players on their squad that have stepped up.”
