In his 22 years at North Carolina, men’s soccer coach Elmar Bolowich has produced 27 Major League Soccer draft picks, 12 All-Americans and seven players who would go on to earn caps from the U.S. National Team.
His teams have won an
ACC Tournament title and the 2001 National Championship.
But with a 2-0 victory in Friday night’s season finale against Clemson at Fetzer Field, this year’s Tar Heels accomplished something none of their predecessors was able to — an outright regular season conference championship.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment for our team,” Bolowich said. “I’m very, very happy for our senior class to go out like that. They’ve done a tremendous job over the years, and the ones that came as transfers, they’ve blended right in. To achieve something like this in the
ACC is outstanding.”
Though the Tar Heels (14-2-1, 7-0-1
ACC) have shown a flair for the dramatic in this record-setting season, no theatrics were necessary on Senior Night. Fittingly it was Michael Farfan, UNC’s elusive senior midfielder, who drew first blood 20 minutes into the game.
Redshirt freshman Matt Rose received a pass down the left flank from sophomore Enzo Martinez and managed to slip past a Clemson (5-8-4, 2-4-2
ACC) defender along the endline before being brought down in the box by Tiger goalkeeper Cody Mizell. Farfan coolly converted the ensuing penalty to give
UNC the only goal it would need.
The Tigers had a point-blank attempt at an equalizer snuffed out by
UNC goalie Scott Goodwin in the 53nd minute, but that was as close as they would come as the Tar Heels out shot the opposition 19-7.
Junior forward Alex Dixon led the
UNC attack in the second half. Though he was unable to convert on any of his three shots, Dixon was a code red for the visitors in orange throughout the evening, using his instant acceleration to snatch lazy back passes and fly past defenders down the sidelines.
Appropriately it was freshman forward Robbie Lovejoy who finally put the finishing touches on the program’s first unbeaten
ACC season. The Greensboro native is one of a cadre of underclassmen reinforcements who have carried the load for the 12 Tar Heels who have missed games due to injury this season.
Lovejoy struck with less than 17 minutes to play after a Kirk Urso corner kick grazed the head of a Clemson defender and fell to the feet of
UNC midfielder Dustin McCarty on the left side of the 18-yard box.
McCarty smacked the ball toward goal, where Lovejoy used his back heel to redirect the ball into the net for his third score in the five games since Bolowich burned his redshirt less than a month ago.
“Robbie’s been unbelievable this year,” senior Eddie Ababio said. “He came in, didn’t think he was going to play, got his opportunities. He’s taken full advantage of it. It’s awesome.”
Having accomplished its preseason goal of winning the league outright,
UNC now moves on to its next challenge — the
ACC Tournament, where the Tar Heels will look to secure a top-four seed in the
NCAA Tournament and the home-field advantage that comes with it.
UNC opens play Wednesday in the quarterfinals against either N.C. State or Virginia Tech.
“There’s always stuff to improve on,” Ababio said. “So we just got to take care of ourselves, get healthy and want it.”
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
