Despite Poor Play, Men's Soccer Clinches Win Over Long Island

UNC dominated the first 20 minutes of play, with Matt Crawford scoring two goals in 10 minutes.

Despite being outplayed by Long Island for most of the game, UNC walked off the field with the 4-2 victory, clinching its 15th straight win at Fetzer Field.

UNC's first goal came after Ryan Kneipper flicked the ball over the Blackbird defense. As Long Island goalkeeper Ryszard Gorski came 25 yards off his line to challenge, Crawford coolly slid the ball past him to give North Carolina (3-0) an early 1-0 lead.

Kneipper, who scored three times in UNC's first two games, was largely ineffective after assisting on the first goal.

"I think what they really tried to do was get him out of his game physically and foul him a lot," said UNC midfielder Marcus Storey.

By fouling Kneipper, and catching the Tar Heels offside seven times in the first half, Long Island (1-1) severely disrupted UNC's attack.

But, in the 20th minute, UNC struck again.

Long Island's Bereket Kidane took down UNC's Mike Gell well behind the play, but the official did not see it. Gell got up to have words with Kidane, and Kidane hit him in the throat. But Gell played on.

David Testo sent a long ball from the far flank into the box. Gell headed it off the ground and back to Crawford who headed it home for his second goal.

"(After the second goal), then we let up," said UNC head coach Elmar Bolowich. "Our intensity dropped a little bit and Long Island was very opportunistic at feeding off of our mistakes."

The first mistake was made by midfielder Dixon Soffe. Long Island's Gustavo Lozano stripped the ball from Soffe, played it to Oskar Tilly, who then sent a blast past freshman goalkeeper Ford Williams to make the score 2-1.

Long Island continued to pressure UNC's backline in the second half.

That pressure paid off when the Blackbirds collected the ball in the midfield and maintained possession into its offensive third. Blackbird midfielder Tevoan Brown found Wendell Parris at the top of the box, where Parris pushed the ball past Williams to tie the game, 2-2.

Williams, who returned from Spain last weekend after playing with the U.S. Under-20 National Team, made his first collegiate start Thursday. But he didn't allow that to be an excuse for the defense's poor play.

"I think it was a lack a concentration and discipline in the back," he said. "Communication broke down a little bit and they were able to get through the seams, which most any team can do if you're not organized real well in the back."

Although disorganized in the back, the Tar Heels got it together up front. In the 62nd minute Tim Merritt found the back of the net off a Testo corner kick, putting the Tar Heels ahead, 3-2.

With just over a minute to play, Crawford ripped a shot at Gorski. Gorski deflected it, and Crawford gathered the loose ball, which he played to Storey.

Storey tucked the ball neatly into the corner of the net, giving UNC a 4-2 lead.

Long Island had several late chances, but couldn't net another goal against the No. 2 Tar Heels.

Storey suggested UNC might have taken Long Island a bit lightly, but Bolowich disagreed.

"When you look at how we came out, it seemed to go the right direction," Bolowich said.

"We don't have tendencies to underestimate our opponents. We didn't do it last year, it shouldn't happen this year. I think it was more of a letdown on ourselves. It had nothing to do with Long Island."

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