The No. 12 North Carolina men’s soccer team (3-0-2) drew with St. John’s (2-2-2), 2-2, on Friday night for its second draw in four games.
The game was back-and-forth early, with the Tar Heels and the Red Storm trading quick possessions. A St. John's injury led to a stoppage in the game, but UNC was able to get the upper hand afterwards, establishing possession and closing in on the Red Storm defense.
North Carolina’s efforts paid off in the 14th minute, when first-year defender Tate Johnson crossed right to senior forward Luke Hille, who got past St. John’s goaltender Alec McLachlan and headed the ball into the bottom right corner for his third goal of the year.
With the goal on the board, the Tar Heels cooled down offensively. They were able to get a slight edge on total possession in the first, but 54 percent of it came in their own half of the field.
A few moments of possession was all it took for St. Johns to strike back. After the Red Storm took the ball deep into North Carolina’s offensive zone, a forward found St. Johns’ Miguel Diaz open in front of the goal, and he launched the ball to the right of redshirt junior goalkeeper Andrew Cordes.
“We just weren’t running enough to get into the right spots to defend,” graduate defender Riley Thomas said. “A little uncharacteristic, but they also had two shots on goal, so we’re not giving up so many chances.”
The beginning of the second half was similar to the beginning of the first, but this time it was St. John’s who capitalized first.
Around ten minutes in, a St. Johns’ forward got the ball on the left side of the field and wove around several Tar Heel defenders to get the ball to Brady Geho. After the ball deflected off the foot of a North Carolina defender, Geho took the shot off his right foot and fired it into the back right of the goal.
“We’re built on identity more than defense, and I think we lost a little bit of our identity tonight, at times in terms of our relentlessness to get out to the ball,” assistant coach Grant Porter said.
