The North Carolina men’s soccer team held a Blue versus White intrasquad scrimmage after Fall Fest at 11 p.m. Sunday night. Here are eight takeaways from the match at Fetzer Field.
- Despite the late start, the match succeeded in its goal of drawing from the Fall Fest crowd. A sizable number of people attended the match and stayed for the duration of Blue’s 2-0 win over White.
- Sophomore forward Alan Winn is fast. Crazy fast. Winn outpaced every single teammate and nearly blew by senior defender Jonathan Campbell early in the first half.
- Freshman midfielder Dominic Jensen scored a highlight goal from long distance in Friday’s exhibition against Winthrop and was feeling good about his shot at another. Within the first two minutes of the game, Jensen launched a shot from almost 20 yards out. It ended up sailing over the crossbar, but that won’t stop him from pulling the trigger in the future.
- After three years of sporadic playing time, senior midfielder Nico Melo could have an expanded role for the Tar Heels in 2015. Melo is a highly technical player. He worked himself into a good shot in the first half off of a slick pass from redshirt senior midfielder Jordan McCrary. Later Melo fit a back-heel flip pass along the sideline to Campbell, which resulted in another shooting opportunity for the Blue team.
- Freshman forward Andy Lopez timed his run perfectly behind the White back line and chipped the ball over senior keeper Sam Euler for the first goal of the night. Later, Melo found Lopez in the box for the second goal. In two preseason games, Lopez has scored three times.
- Senior Walker Hume, who is out for the season with a foot fracture suffered in July, tried his hand in the broadcasting booth for the game and added some pep to the player introductions before the match.
- Even though it was an intrasquad game, neither team held back. There were multiple fouls and multiple players hit the ground hard.
- Seeing his first action was forward Nils Bruning, a 20-year-old freshman from Hamburg, Germany. He scored 20 goals in four years in Germany. Bruning won’t be eligible to play this season, but should provide more offensive punch over the next four years.
