In its past two meetings with UNC-Wilmington, the North Carolina men's soccer team had walked away with one-goal defeats against the Seahawks.
But with a chance to extend their historic start, the No. 2 Tar Heels snapped their skid against UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday at Fetzer Field, beating the Seahawks 3-0. With the win, UNC improves to 9-0-1 on the season, marking the best start in program history.
UNC pressed the ball into the Seahawks’ half the entire first period, maintaining possession and amassing a 10-3 shot advantage. UNC-W had the best opportunity of the first half, but UNC senior defender Jonathan Campbell prevented a would-be score with a goal-line clearance.
After 25 minutes of dominating possession, UNC finally put the ball past the Seahawks' goalkeeper. Campbell crossed the ball into the box from near the half-field line to 6-foot-5 redshirt junior Tucker Hume. Hume headed the ball back to sophomore forward Zach Wright, who struck the ball with his left foot into the bottom right of the net.
Lightning struck a second for Wright with less than 10 minutes left in the first half. Sophomore David October finished an impressive run at the top of the box with a pass to Wright, who crushed the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the night.
The Seahawks came out more aggressive in the second half to try and counter a more defensive UNC squad. But UNC-W could never get the ball past UNC’s back line.
Sophomore forward Alan Winn put the game away once and for all late in the second half. The sophomore's goal in the 81st minute sealed a 3-0 win for the Tar Heels.
Quotable
“All we talk about at halftime is to take advantage of all the minutes you get out there. You get a limited amount of minutes to get better. We just want to take advantage of minutes we have to perform. We just keep refocusing that thought.” — Coach Carlos Somoano on his team's approach at halftime.
