North Carolina Tar Heels man up against Wofford Terriers

Barely more than 15 minutes into Tuesday night’s game against Wofford, the North Carolina men’s soccer team lost a prolific scorer to a red card and saw its team captain writhing on the ground in pain.

Captain Jordan Gafa would remain in the game despite an MCL strain.

Andy Craven, the red-carded forward, would not.

It was an undeniably inauspicious beginning to the evening but, as it turned out, it would pave the way for a sweet, redemptive end.

With the contest still scoreless in a second period of overtime, midfielder Cameron Brown fired a missile off the fingertips of diving Wofford goalkeeper Andrew Drennan in the 103rd minute.

In a mad scramble for the rebound, speedy UNC midfielder Mikey Lopez was the first to reach the ball, giving it the last push it needed to seal a Tar Heel win.

“I just finished the part. It was all Cam,” Lopez said. “He did an amazing job on the ball. He snaked that guy bad, and the guy bit … I just had to get there before the goalkeeper got it.”

The Tar Heels ran to mob Lopez near the left side of goal to celebrate.

Rewind to the 16th minute of the game, and the situation seemed far bleaker.

Craven was issued a red card and ejected from the game after a Wofford player found himself on the ground. Per NCAA rules, Craven will miss the team’s next game at Duke.

And it’s safe to say UNC coach Carlos Somoano wasn’t happy with the call.

“I was looking straight at it, and I was very disappointed,” Somoano said. “The guy kind of wrapped him up and was holding him from running through, and (Craven) was literally just trying to break free.

“If he did that on purpose, then I tell you, I will fly to the moon tomorrow.”

Somoano said he told his players to treat Craven’s absence as an opportunity.

And he said he thought the Tar Heels responded admirably.

“That’s one thing that we try to build into the guys, and it’s been a work in progress this year: Just stay calm,” Somoano said. “It’s an unfortunate call.

“Some days it rains. Some days it snows. Some days it’s sunny. We’ll deal with it.”

Down one man, the Tar Heels struggled to finish off any offensive attack for much of the contest.

But as the game neared its end, Lopez was UNC’s main aggressor. He fired his first shot of the game in the second half, another in the first overtime period and two more in the last.

“Mikey was exceptional tonight,” Somoano said. “He’s playing at a whole different level than he’s ever played at Carolina.”

After the game Lopez was all smiles, joking with his teammates that he needed to fix his hair before doing post-game interviews.

Given the way the game started, that reaction was certainly justified.

“It was a great feeling to win the game,” Lopez said. “Such a tough game with 10 men, so it was an amazing feeling.”

“I just wanted to get that goal. I just wanted to get that win for us. I guess my aggressiveness paid off at the end.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.