The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

UNC earns spot in College Cup for fourth straight time

8595_1205_10msoccer_wangf.jpg
Students in the Creative Writing Program's Gram-O-Rama class performed original skits Thursday night in Wilson Library. Skits payed homage to the eight parts of grammar. Themes included wordplay, idioms, parody, double negatives and much more.

The North Carolina men’s soccer team is no stranger to the College Cup.

But in a 2-0 quarterfinal win against St. Mary’s (Calif.) on Saturday, it was a couple of newcomers that helped the Tar Heels seal their fourth straight appearance in the NCAA semifinals.

Although they have participated in the final weekend of the season for four straight years now, the Tar Heels haven’t claimed the title since 2001.

But this season, the stars could be aligned just right for the Tar Heels.

“Every team is different every year,” captain Kirk Urso said. “But this is a special team this year, in regards to every team we’ve had in the past.”

Compared to last year’s team, the 2011 Tar Heels look much different. Not only does UNC have a healthy Billy Schuler, who has led the team with 15 goals this season, the Tar Heels also have two transfer players in the starting line up.

And it was that pair of brand new Tar Heels that made the difference Saturday.

After a scoreless first half, it was Butler transfer Matt Hedges, the 6-foot-4-inch defender, who broke the tie in the 53rd minute, in the manner he has been most dangerous this season — a header off an Urso corner kick.

The two had nearly missed a link up on the previous play, similar to the number of close calls in the first half.

So in the second half, Hedges said he made a minor adjustment.

“I changed my run up a little, going more to the near post because Kirk seemed to be serving more of the balls near the near post,” Hedges said. “It was a good service. I just got my head on it.”

Ben Speas, the other transfer in the starting 11, salted the game away with UNC’s second goal 12 minutes later off an assist from Schuler.

“Billy got the ball, and I saw I had space. The defender was a little bit off me, so I tried to make the run behind my guy’s back,” Speas said. “Billy played a good ball and the guy cut it off, kind of. I got inside of him, got on the ball and just placed it.”

Speas’ goal, his sixth this season, gave North Carolina its largest margin of victory in the NCAA tournament. Each of the Tar Heel’s first two games were decided by a single goal.

When the Tar Heels play UCLA Friday in Hoover, Ala., it will be Speas’ first College Cup appearance representing North Carolina, but it won’t be the first time he’s been there.

In fact, Speas will be looking for back-to-back national championships as he was a member of last year’s Akron team that took the title against Louisville in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Aside from the players on the pitch, the most glaring discrepancy between the 2011 UNC men’s soccer team and previous ones is its head coach Carlos Somoano. An assistant last year, he replaced Elmar Bolowich when Bolowich left for Creighton.

For now, Somoano is pleased that his team has continued its streak of national semifinal appearances.

“It’s very exciting to be going back to the College Cup,” Somoano said. “(I) couldn’t be more proud of our group who was dealing with a lot of pressure being the number one seed and handled that comfortably getting through.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.