Alan Winn leads breakthrough for UNC men's soccer attack

In 2014, the North Carolina men’s soccer team was the most explosive in the nation, scoring an incendiary 52 goals to lead all teams.

But the Tar Heels will need to replace 42 of those goals, due to players graduating or being injured. Sophomore forwards Alan Winn and Zach Wright were called on to fill the void, but their youth compared to UNC’s experienced lineup from a season ago has created mixed results.

“I wouldn’t call them rambunctious, but they’re excitable,” Coach Carlos Somoano said. “(Last year) we were able to give information, and it was absorbed pretty quickly.”

With three goals in 2014 to lead all returning players, Winn was expected to become the centerpiece of the Tar Heel offense. Yet through the first five games he failed to score until No. 3 UNC’s 4-2 win against No. 2 Notre Dame on Friday.

Winn’s best asset is his blazing speed. Like 2014 with forward Andy Craven, UNC plays its best with speed at the point of the attack.

“We have a lot of speed up top, and we want to test that,” said junior defender Colton Storm.

Figuring out how to unlock that speed has been the challenge. Heading into the match against Notre Dame, Somoano and the coaching staff spent extra time in practice on the attack working to set Winn loose.

Whatever adjustments they made worked. Winn scored his first two goals of the season in UNC’s victory.

“Zach was making brilliant runs in behind,” Winn said. “When (my teammates) do their jobs, it makes my job a lot easier.”

Winn’s speed makes him a threat to pick off lazy passes by opposing defenders. He’s also dangerous running underneath lob passes from the midfield behind the back line of the defense.

But one of the most dangerous uses of the overall team speed the Tar Heels possess is the counterattack. Somoano said his 2014-15 team knew enough to execute counterattacks to perfection.

With the youth on his current team, Somoano said he’s needed to do more teaching.

“With this group, we need to really punish teams on the counter if they’re going to press us,” he said. “You need to really break it down as to what that means and how to do it.”

But Somoano said this young UNC team makes up for what it lacks in experience with enthusiasm. He said he has been impressed with the fight in his team and how they play hard for each other until the whistle blows.

It’s led to goals for UNC in the last five seconds of the first half three times this season, including against Notre Dame to take the lead for good.

For a young team still searching for an identity, that sort of competitiveness could be something to build on.

“That’s more important than perfectly executed counterattacks sometimes,” Somoano said.

“Hopefully we get both.”

@loganulrich

sports@dailytarheel.com