Men’s soccer stunned by NC State

The No. 19 North Carolina men’s soccer team’s defensive unit prides itself on being a close-knit group, relying upon communication whenever an offense threatens its goal.

But just hours before Friday’s Senior Night season finale against N.C. State, the familiarity on UNC’s back line, which had not surrendered a goal in 324 minutes heading into the game, was shaken up. Starting center back Jonathan Campbell was ruled out with an unexpected injury, forcing right back redshirt freshman Nick Williams to take Campbell’s spot and junior C.J. Odenigwe to play his first minutes of the entire season in Williams’ place.

After grinding out a scoreless 90-minute regulation, the new-look group strayed from what has become the UNC defense’s staple — communication — for just a matter of seconds in overtime, during which the Wolfpack capitalized just two minutes in to defeat UNC (8-4-5, 4-2-5 ACC) 1-0 .

N.C. State midfielder Nazmi Albadawi ended the game with a chip shot over UNC redshirt junior goalkeeper Brendan Moore that softly found its way into the goal.

“Well, clearly,” said coach Carlos Somoano when asked if he saw a lack of communication on the play. “Either one could have made the play, right? Nick could have made the play, Brendan could have made the play, and they both thought the other was going to make the play.”

But for Moore, UNC’s fault did not come down to the void left by Campbell’s injury in the center back position, which Williams had to fill with little chance to prepare.

“We’re both very capable of making plays like that,” Moore said. “Jonathan being out really didn’t affect the way we played tonight. Jonathan is a great player, but so is Nick.”

Taking the lack of preparation into account, Somoano commended the play of Williams and Odenigwe.

“I don’t think you can argue that we’d been better off if we had at least one day to train with a new back four, but there’s no excuse,” he said.

“They still played well, they’re still confident guys. I’m still proud of the effort they put in.”

And despite having two players thrust into new roles, UNC lived up to the standard of play in the final third of the field that has paved the way for the team to boast the nation’s fourth-ranked defense. Though the Wolfpack reeled off 11 shots Friday, only four were on goal.

But the buildup that led to N.C. State’s 11th and final game-winning shot, which reset the Tar Heel defense’s clock that had reached 416 minutes of play without surrendering a goal, was scarred in the mind of UNC’s Boyd Okwuonu after the game.

He saw the ball roll into the net as clear as day, standing with his team motionless on a cold Fetzer Field as N.C. State began to celebrate.

For Okwuno, a play like that, marred by a lack of communication, was unacceptable, and is something that’s simply not an option as the Tar Heels embark into the postseason.

“We made a mistake, and we gotta pick it back up,” Okwuonu said. “It happens, but it can’t happen anymore.”

sports@dailytarheel.com