Bolowich's Advice Inspires Men's Soccer

With his squad's final conference match against No. 6 Clemson looming, Bolowich impressed upon his charges the importance of immediately returning to form.

The No. 8 Tar Heels got his message loud and clear.

UNC's defense recorded its 10th shutout of the year Saturday and Logan Pause scored an opportunistic goal in the 49th minute as the Tar Heels defeated the Tigers 1-0.

"It was important for our guys to respond to the game last week," Bolowich said. "And it came with hard work and fighting power."

The shutout gave UNC senior goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey 25.1 career shutouts, breaking the former record of 25 shutouts held by Kevin Kane

(1977-80) and Watson Jennison (1989-92).

Ueltschey said while he was proud of the record, he was more proud of the way the team reacted to Bolowich's challenge.

"A lot of people played bad last week, including myself," said Ueltschey, who made five saves Saturday. "And (Bolowich) brought that up, and it was good because it was like, `Hey, we can't walk through this.'"

Clemson (12-4, 2-2 ACC) controlled the opening minutes of the game, muscling the Tar Heels and winning the majority of 50-50 balls in the midfield.

But UNC's defense did not break and kept the Tigers off the scoreboard while the offense found its legs.

Ueltschey said he expected Clemson to come out with a sense of urgency and that it was important to fight off the Tigers' initial offensive wave.

"If you just keep playing hard and not give them any chances, eventually they're going to break down," he said.

After a scoreless first half, UNC

(14-3, 4-2 in the ACC) got the game's only goal in the 49th minute when forward David Testo and midfielder Noz Yamauchi pressured Tiger back Eric Lewis into passing the ball to keeper Doug Warren. Pause charged Warren, stripped the ball inside the 18-yard box, turned and fired the ball into the net.

"We lost on a mistake," said Clemson coach Trevor Adair. "We learn from it, and I guarantee we won't make the same mistake again."

North Carolina fought off several late Tiger threats, including two point-blank shots by Clemson back Brett Branan, to preserve the shutout.

After Branan's last shot, a strike that went over the crossbar, a visibly upset Ueltschey yelled at his defense and grabbed a couple of his teammates, telling them not to let up.

"It's good that we got the shutout and got the win, but I think those are mistakes we're going to have to address," he said. "That can't happen with three minutes left in the game."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.