The UNC men’s soccer team dominated State throughout much of a 4-0 ACC quarterfinal win at WakeMed Soccer Park Wednesday.The game was the last time seniors Chris Zuerner, Tyler Lassiter, Lucas Carpenter and Akil DeFreitas will be able to wear the N.C. State red and white on the field of play. But even with the loss of so many impact seniors, coach George Tarantini said that this is not the end of the line for his team’s success.
“This team has a tremendous future,” Tarantini said. “Their future is fantastic. You ask any of those players what they think of the ACC Tournament, every single one of those players will tell you it’s one of the greatest experiences in their life. This game is bigger than anyone else. The game belongs to the players, not anyone else.”
The first half was dominated by Tar Heel midfield possession, as the Heels attempted eight shots and three corner kicks. In the opening minutes, both teams made several penetrating runs. Carolina lived up to its No. 1-seed rating when it opened the scoring in the 16th minute off of a corner kick. UNC’s Kirk Urso passed a short corner kick to Michael Farfan, who deadened the ball for Urso to whip into the six-yard box. The ball found Martin Murphy, who headed the ball in at the far post. Three minutes later, Murphy found himself outside the box with the ball again and rocketed a shot off the right post.
The Wolfpack’s lone shot on goal came from Zuerner, who barely missed the left post from outside of the penalty box. Zuerner recognized the importance of set plays in Carolina’s first-half success.
“Games can be won with set pieces,” Zuerner said. “We have to be more disciplined and work on those. The turning point came from those set pieces.”
The Tarheels made the game 2-0 in the 33rd minute after Enzo Martinez received a lofted pass to the right side of the penalty box from Matt Rose, trapped it with his chest, down to his left foot and drilled it into the near post. N.C. State made several penetrating runs but frequently lost the ball to the solid UNC defense inside the penalty box. Between halves, Tarantini told his team to maintain possession in the second half.
“Well, we have to possess the ball,” Tarantini said. “And we tried. But we came short. We created some opportunities in the first 25 minutes but if you don’t finalize those opportunities you don’t get goals.”
The second half began with relatively even possession from both sides. The Pack played the first 20 minutes with confidence until the 65th minute when UNC’s Farfan received a low cross from Alex Dinson twelve yards out, faked a shot with his left foot, pulled it across his body to his right, and blasted a goal into the far post on the left side net. Five minutes later, sophomore defender David Brown was ejected from the game with a straight red card for stomping on a Carolina player. Tarheel forward Enzo Martinez wrapped up the scoring in the 81st minute after receiving a short pass from Carlos McCrary. Despite the loss, Tarantini was still proud of his team’s performance.
“There is no question that Carolina is a very good team,” Tarantini said. “We are very disappointed from this loss. We tried to open it up and make space. This is a game that is played with desire. Today, we went out to play and they did a better job. No cliché, I truly am proud of my team. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, I am truly proud.”
