No. 11 UNC men's soccer defeats Duke, 2-1, after late second half goal

DURHAM, N.C. —  A controversial deflection lifted the No. 11 North Carolina men’s soccer team (4-0-2) over Duke (3-2-1) in a 2-1 win at Koskinen Stadium on Friday.

UNC scored the winning goal with 13 minutes left off a botched Duke throw-in routine. The ball deflected off senior forward Luke Hille’s hand and into the path of graduate forward Martin Vician. Vician zoomed past the Duke backline to score.

Duke head coach John Kerr said after the game the referee crew told him the goal was not reviewable. The NCAA rules book for men’s soccer does not list a potential handball before a goal as a specific situation in which video review is permissible.

“The refs missed it,” Kerr said. “It was definitive. And they’ll be hopefully disappointed when they see it. Arm’s away from his body, obviously hit there, and it’s disappointing because it leads to a goal.”

Early on, Duke’s offensive structure stretched the Tar Heel defense, opening spaces in the middle for a Blue Devil to receive. 

Just 11 minutes in, Duke midfielder Trevor Burns found himself in such space, free from any UNC defender just outside the penalty box to slip a pass to Adam Luckhurst. 

Luckhurst’s shot snuck past the smother of UNC redshirt junior Andrew Cordes to put Duke up, 1-0.

UNC’s offense struggled to respond in kind, struggling to muster a final pass for a shot. The Tar Heels’ creativity cratered even more after senior midfielder Juan Caffaro, who leads the team with four assists, received a yellow card and was subbed out.

It took 25 minutes for North Carolina to take a shot — a curling effort from senior midfielder Matthew Acosta that flew over the goal. But UNC eventually tied the game without Caffaro or its top two goal scorers, senior forward Luke Hille and graduate forward Martin Vician, on the field.

From the left wing, junior midfielder Sam Williams floated a free kick into the box that the Duke defense failed to clear away. The ball dropped to junior forward Lucas Ross, who buried a simple finish into the bottom left corner.

UNC continued with a strike partnership of Ross and sophomore forward Daniel Lugo to start the second half, but not to the same effect as in the first half. Hille and Vician came back 10 minutes later.

Twice in the game, Duke had good looks on goal that hit the post. In the first half, Ulfur Bjornsson pounced on a failed UNC clearance to get within 10 yards of the UNC goal but his shot rattled off the right post. 

In the second half, Duke stretched UNC’s defense again, lasering a low cross to Drew Kerr from point blank range, but the Duke forward’s shot hit the bottom of the bar and bounced on — but not past — the goal line.

John Kerr said the missed chances made Duke want to score more, which may have left the Blue Devils more exposed defensively. In contrast, Hille praised UNC’s mentality.

“It wasn’t perfect by any means,” Hille said. “But this is what this team is about — fighting to the last minute and dogging it out, getting the results.”

The Tar Heels survived to profit off more Blue Devil bad luck. Off a botched throw-in routine, the ball deflected off Hille’s hand and into Vician. Vician zoomed past the Duke backline to score. Despite Duke’s protests, referee Dimitar Chavdarov did not use video review and the goal stood.

“It was a great close [down],” Somoano said. “That was just good defending.”

Duke’s misfortune compounded when Burns received a red card for a tackle on UNC graduate midfielder Jameson Charles. Despite playing with 10 men at that point, the Blue Devils threw players forward in search of a goal — to no avail.

North Carolina returns to Dorrance Field on Sept. 20 for another rivalry tilt against N.C. State. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

@dmtwumasi

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com