Back-to-back losses for UNC men’s soccer

The North Carolina men’s soccer team hadn’t lost back-to-back regular season games since 2008 — but after suffering a 2-1 loss to Duke Sept. 19, the Tar Heels put that streak on the line Friday night when they traveled to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame (4-1-1, 2-0-1 ACC).

At the game’s beginning, when No. 8 UNC (5-3-0, 1-2-0 ACC) quickly took control of the pace of the game, the streak didn’t seem to be on the line.

But the scoreboard told a different story. The one shot Notre Dame forward Jeffrey Farina took in the 36th minute of the Fighting Irish’s 2-0 victory decided the game as it made it past a diving Brendan Moore. Jon Gallagher found a cutting Farina wide open inside the box, and Farina finished it off by launching the ball from his left foot to the back of the net.

Notre Dame scored a second goal in the 70th minute when Luke Mishu found Leon Brown on a cross and Brown volleyed it past Moore.

“We just didn’t defend well as a unit,” senior UNC defender Boyd Okwuonu said. “We’ve got some things that we need to work on and I know we can do a better job than what we’ve done in the last two games.”

UNC started a different back line against Notre Dame as junior Walker Hume made his UNC debut starting at center back and allowed Farina to slip by for the first goal. But Okwuonu refused to point fingers.

“I think Walker did fine in his first game. It’s a team effort defensively and we all have to pick it up,” Okwuonu said.

Offensively, the Tar Heels had their chances but were unable to get the ball past Irish goalkeeper Patrick Wall, who tallied six saves.

“The game is won or lost inside of the 18 and they won that area of the game,” redshirt senior forward Rob Lovejoy said. “Personally, I think I could’ve done more but it’s frustrating that we weren’t able to execute.”

In addition to the six shots stopped by Wall, the Tar Heels also had some errant shots of their own, including a header by Hume off a corner kick that missed wide left and a penalty kick by Omar Holness that sailed high in the 79th minute.

But Lovejoy said that the team is still in good shape from a tactical standpoint.

“Guys know where they need to be,” Lovejoy said. “It comes down to being mentally tough and fighting back if we’re down a goal to get a result.”

Despite dropping two regular season games in a row for the first time since 2008, the Tar Heels remain confident.

“It’s always tough losing, especially when both of the games we lost were winnable,” Lovejoy said. “It’s a long season and we have to keep playing and try to get some momentum going into the postseason. We can’t let these losses get in the way of that.”

sports@dailytarheel.com