Tar Heels men's soccer ties Wake Forest

North Carolina men’s soccer coach Carlos Somoano embraced the gritty effort his team put forth against Wake Forest after a listless performance at James Madison.

But aggression doesn’t always translate into goals.

The top-ranked North Carolina men’s soccer team (4-1-1) failed to get the result it wanted against No. 15 Wake Forest, drawing 0-0 after 110 minutes of play.

Somoano said he was pleased with the Tar Heels’ production in the double-overtime stalemate, despite the absence of a goal.

And senior goalkeeper Scott Goodwin sensed an aggressive mentality in Friday’s game that was lacking against JMU.

“Against JMU, it was a little bit of men versus boys, and we definitely weren’t proud of that,” Goodwin said. “But I’m definitely very proud of the guys tonight. They came out and really busted it, and really played with a lot of aggression.”

UNC’s mentality resulted in a handful of chances on goal — but none that the Tar Heels could convert.

In the 51st minute, redshirt senior Jordan Gafa took a shot with Wake Forest goalkeeper Michael Lisch out of position, but it sailed over the crossbar.

Later, in the 65th minute sophomore Mikey Lopez read a Wake Forest defender and gained possession near the left post, but the angle proved too difficult to net a goal.

“I tried to chip or blast the ball up into the high part of the goal, but the keeper got a good save on it,” Lopez said.

Emotions erupted when freshman Nyambi Jabang was the victim of a hard tackle in the 78th minute, leading to a scuffle between both teams at midfield.

No cards were issued to either team, but the tense game did warrant two yellow cards — one on each side ­— and 28 combined fouls.

Somoano was pleased to see his team show some life.

“James Madison, we were zombies coming out in that game,” Somoano said.

“I think we were prepared for James Madison in almost every way … The guys just lost their focus in that moment. I didn’t see it coming. If I had, I would’ve tried to wake them up out of it.”

North Carolina’s zeal also yielded defensive results as Goodwin recorded his fourth shutout of the season and the 28th of his career. He is one shutout shy of breaking the school record for career shutouts.

Somoano said the result reflected the intensity of both teams.

“Both teams put it in, both teams got after it and made their best effort to win the game,” Somoano said. “A stalemate was what was decided.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.