Jonathan Campbell plays hero and villain in men's soccer tie

Keeper Brendan Moore stumbled backwards, eyes to the sky.

One of the tallest players on the No. 6 North Carolina men’s soccer team, Moore leapt backwards and stretched out his arms, using every inch of his 6-foot-2 frame to push the ball away.

But he couldn’t.

Instead, the ball floated over his fingertips and landed gently in the bottom left corner of the net. The goal, which came in the 69th minute of UNC’s Saturday night matchup against No. 21 Virginia (9-5-2, 3-3-2 ACC), tied the game 1-1. Twenty more regulation minutes and two overtimes later, the score remained the same for UNC’s first tie of the season.

“It kind of sucks,” Moore said after the game. “Shutouts are something I take a lot of pride in.”

For Moore, who hadn’t allowed a goal in 659 minutes, the worst part wasn’t that he had allowed a score — it was the way it happened.

As Virginia’s Eric Bird crossed the ball into the UNC box, Jonathan Campbell was in position to clear it out and maintain UNC’s 1-0 lead. When he went to head the ball, though, he didn’t make clear contact; a misguided header sent the ball spinning in the wrong direction — back at Moore and into the goal.

UVA had its equalizer, but Campbell had done all the work.

Coach Carlos Somoano knew that score — quirky as it was — would be the difference in UNC’s regular season finale.

“Your natural reaction is, ‘Oh gosh, what did we just do to ourselves?’” Somoano said.

“One goal (Saturday) should’ve won the game for us, but you know, we had that mistake there.”

His mishit might have tied the game, but Campbell was more than just the villain. The junior defender was also the hero of sorts, as his volley in the 51st minute led to UNC’s only goal.

A deflected corner kick bounced just outside the box to the waiting Campbell, who stepped up and ripped a shot. The screamer looked destined to soar into the top right corner, but Tyler Engel redirected the ball into a wide open bottom pocket and was credited with the score.

Again, Campbell had done all the work for none of the credit.

Campbell almost redeemed himself late in the second half, when he curled a cross in from outside the left box to Andy Craven. Craven went airborne, but his header was too powerful and the ball inched over the crossbar.

Despite the tie, UNC is slated as the third seed in the ACC Tournament. Still, Campbell was disappointed in himself for committing the costly error.

“You feel like at that point you want to make up for it, but that’s the wrong way to look at it,” Campbell said. “If you feel that way, then you’re gonna start making plays you normally wouldn’t, so unfortunately you’ve just gotta let it go.

“But it’s pretty difficult. I’ll still remember it.”

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