UNC men’s soccer advances in NCAA Tournament behind 5 second-half goals

The No. 16 North Carolina men’s soccer team has trademarked an explosive scoring offense this season. But it added another skill to its repertoire Thursday night on Fetzer Field in the first round of the NCAA tournament against James Madison.

Patience.

Led by veteran coach Tom Martin, JMU came in with a heavy defensive focus. The Dukes kept defenders back and clogged the middle of the field, slowing UNC’s fast-paced offense to a crawl.

“We anticipated that they may come in and play a compact defensive game,” Coach Carlos Somoano said. “If we needed to take 89 minutes to break it down, we were going to take 89 minutes.”

Forty minutes was all it took. Senior forward Andy Craven collected a loose rebound off a shot by sophomore midfielder Omar Holness and put it in the back of the net to open the scoring in the first half.

Then the wheels fell off for the visitors.

Senior forward Rob Lovejoy added a second goal off of a deflection by Craven. Then 15 seconds after, JMU captain Josh Grant tackled junior midfielder Alex Olofson hard and high, earning a red card. Craven scored his second goal on a fast break, beating the keeper one-on-one. Then a second JMU player, Tim Whitebread, committed a foul against freshman forward Alan Winn, earning JMU its second red card.

Facing a 3-0 deficit and down two players , the Dukes strategy of playing a low-scoring game came unhinged.

“It’s tough to play a high school team down two men, let alone a team like Carolina,” Martin said.

With the Dukes’ defense loose and plenty of space to work with, UNC eviscerated JMU the rest of the way. Craven added a third goal to complete his second hat trick of the season, Winn scored in the 79th minute and senior midfielder Glen Long scored his first goal of the season with only a few minutes left to finish the scoring for UNC.

The six goals matched a season high for UNC. But they didn’t come the same way they had earlier in the season. UNC has focused its offense on being fast-paced all year, but JMU was too well coached in the first half for that to work.

Time after time, the Tar Heels poked and prodded the JMU defense, each time being turned away. A player would receive a pass and turn around to find two defenders charging up to meet him. But the Tar Heels remained composed and continued to hammer away.

“It was just a matter of staying the course and staying persistent,” Lovejoy said. “Eventually things opened up for us as we scored more goals.”

The team’s identity all season has been predicated on getting the quick score, and JMU managed to take that away for a half. But instead of collapsing, UNC beat the Dukes at their own game, showing an adaptability — a patience — that will make them hard to beat moving forward.

“They’ve changed their shape as the season’s gone along to maximize the players they have,” Martin said. “I think they could do very well.”

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