North Carolina men's soccer advances to ninth Sweet 16 in last 10 years

CARY — On Sunday night at WakeMed Soccer Park, elation turned to despair in a matter of seconds for UNC-Wilmington fans in the second round of the men’s soccer NCAA Tournament.

One moment, the Seahawks (12-8) had a shot on goal and looked like they might be building momentum to take a 1-0 edge over North Carolina (15-3-1) early in the second half. Then, there was only silence.

As UNC forward Zach Wright raced down the right sideline, he saw his teammate Jelani Pieters racing toward the box. With a flick of his leg, Wright delivered a hard ground cross to the forward. The ball found the redshirt sophomore’s foot, and just like that, UNC had taken a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute.

The large UNC-W contingent fell silent as cheers went up from those supporting the Tar Heels. Not only had Pieters just connected on his eighth goal of the season, but he had scored his eighth point in his last five matches.

“I think the result is more important than the goal or assists” Pieters said. “I will do what I need to get the result at the end of the day."

Three minutes later, UNC struck again. Sophomore defender Mauricio Pineda delivered the play of the game on a screamer from 25 yards out. Pineda’s right foot connected with the ball and, in the blink of an eye, it rocketed into the top right corner of the net, effectively ending any comeback bid from the Seahawks.

“I think that was a great build up play by the whole team” Pineda said. “I’ve had a lot of shots this season, but maybe not as much success. Definitely worth the wait for now.”

In the 74th minute, the Seahawks cut the 2-1 deficit in half when David Lozano’s cross struck the leg of teammate Julio Moncada and went into the back of the net.

From there, the game turned chippy as the Tar Heels controlled possession, waiting for the final whistle. The chippiness was highlighted by senior forward Alan Winn falling on the ground while a UNC-W defender stood over him with less than ten minutes remaining in the game.

Winn grabbed his opponent’s leg and the defender shoved him back in a confrontation that went unnoticed from the officials.

Minutes later, the final whistle sounded and UNC had moved on, avenging a 1-0 regular-season loss to UNC-W on Sept. 1.

With the win, UNC advances to its ninth NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in the last ten years. The Tar Heels face Southern Methodist University on Saturday in Cary. A win would put UNC a game closer from getting back to the College Cup for the second straight year.

“There’s a finite time that we have to get better in the college soccer season” head coach Carlos Somoano said. “All we want to do is take advantage of every day to see how far we can go to make ourselves the best team possible.”

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