Lack of effort in penalty boxes plagues No. 7 UNC men's soccer in loss to No. 4 Pitt

In the opinion of head coach Carlos Somoano, the outcome of a soccer match is decided in two places on the pitch — both 18-yard boxes.

Lose those crucial battles in the boxes and the rest of the field becomes meaningless territory. 

“The game's won and lost in the boxes. That's the bottom line,” Somoano said. “That's what a lot of coaches say. It's cliche, but tonight's a perfect example of why people say that.” 

Throughout No. 7 North Carolina's 2-1 loss against No. 4 Pittsburgh on Saturday night, the Tar Heels couldn't conquer either territory of coveted real estate, leading to UNC's first home loss this season. 

Trouble began for UNC before the opening whistle. North Carolina's leading goal scorer, graduate forward Martin Vician, was ruled out with a lower-body injury, and the star forward watched from the bench with a boot fastened around his ankle.

With the talisman out, the Tar Heels failed to record a shot on goal in the first half — only the second time all season where UNC failed to fire a shot on frame in 45 minutes. 

And with Somoano refusing to approach the subject of Vician's injury, it's unclear how long the Tar Heels will be without their go-to scorer.

In his absence, there was a noticeable shift in finishing inside North Carolina's attacking third. UNC outshot Pitt 11-4 in the second half, yet no shot truly tested Panther goalkeeper Cabral Carter. 

Moving forward, the Tar Heels will have to find a new striker to step up in the opposing 18-yard box as Vician's availability for the remainder of the season is in question. 

“It's a pretty tough pill to swallow,” Somoano said.

On the other end, North Carolina conceded two “crap goals” rooted in a lack of effort.

The first was a corner kick goal. It wasn't Pitt's tactical design that fooled UNC's backline. Instead, Panther midfielder Arnau Vilamitjana out-willed the Tar Heel defense to meet the in-swinging cross and head the ball into the back of the net. 

“Not attacking [the ball], that's poor. I mean it's poor,” Somoano said. “There are probably some individuals who are not going to look too flattering on the video after that.” 

The second mistake came with under three minutes left in the game. Pitt capitalized on a man-marking failure and found a wide-open Vilamitjana in the middle of the box for an easy game-winner. 

The players were not made available to the media after the game, which means the only explanation comes from Somoano's perspective.

The head coach pointed to relapses in focus as the foundational issue, claiming his team has struggled to stay disciplined in games and those moments have prevented UNC from taking the next step this season.

“It's a player quality to be able to be very resilient and locked in all the time,” Somoano said. “That's kind of the difference between the very good teams and the great, championship-caliber teams — they just don't switch off.”

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