Davidson Stuns 2nd-Ranked UNC

That's the word Davidson's men's soccer coach Matt Spear used to describe they way his defense played in shutting down and shutting out North Carolina 1-0 on Saturday night at Fetzer Field.

"(UNC) took a lot of shots. Carolina threw a lot of guys forward," said Spear. "They're tall, they're big, they're athletic, and we just had to show a lot of heart."

Goalkeeper Soren Johnson led the Wildcats by making seven saves, including several at the end of the game as the Tar Heels (3-1) frantically tried to score.

But he also had something more to play for. In October 1999, Davidson was leading UNC 1-0 at halftime, but Johnson gave up three goals in the second half, and North Carolina won 3-2.

"I'm proud of him," said Spear of Johnson. "He's really wanted to beat Carolina for a long time. He came here two years ago and had a poor showing. So he wanted to get back and make up for that."

Having redeemed himself, Johnson was all smiles after shutting out the second-ranked team in the country.

"There's nothing like it," he said. "A lot of hard work goes into every game and we, as a team, prepared for this one just like any other game, but the concentration is higher, and it's a great feeling."

Throughout the first half, the UNC attack was poised, patient and almost methodical. The Tar Heels played for possession and worked the ball into Davidson's defensive third. But the Wildcats played aggresively -- committing 22 fouls to UNC's nine -- and buried nine players behind the ball, disabling every facet of the North Carolina offense.

UNC coach Elmar Bolowich said he altered his strategy to generate more offense in the second half. But after an attempted clear by the Tar Heel defense deflected off Davidson's Keith Nicholson and into the net in the 50th minute, the Wildcat defense became impenetrable.

UNC forward Ryan Kneipper was contained for the second straight game, and midfielder Matt Crawford was unable to carry over the momentum of last Thursday's two goal, one assist performance against Long Island.

"Our air game with Kneipper was pretty much nullified by their strong defense," Bolowich said. "As a result, they forced the traffic inside and ... they did a good job of shutting us down.

UNC had several scoring opportunities throughout the match, but were unable to convert on any.

The best chance came with 20 seconds left in the first half when Tim Merritt tried to volley a cross at the 6-yard line, but he sent the ball 10 feet over the crossbar.

Inside the final five minutes, UNC had two corner kicks and a free kick from the edge of the box, but Johnson was there for the stop.

"Davidson was very disciplined," Bolowich said. "They didn't panic. They didn't make mistakes. Their goalkeeper was very solid."

Despite being down a goal for the final 40 minutes, and Davidson (2-0-1) never challenging on offense again, Bolowich waited until the 80th minute to push one his defenders forward to put additional pressure up front.

"When it's a 1-0 game, you always have the chance to create two or three more opportunities," Bolowich said. "When you move up your players too early and they score a second goal because your exposing yourself, then the game is over. Then you will not catch up, and we tried to avoid that. So it's a matter of timing."

For Davidson, the timing and impact of the victory are huge, Spear said.

"We told the guys we need to celebrate this, but obviously build on it," said Spear. "This is one win, and it's early in the season, but it does make a big national impact as far as a win for us."

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