Position Switch from Midfield to Defense Pays Dividends for Pause

Convert him, of course.

Entering the 2002 season, UNC men's soccer coach Elmar Bolowich had two gaping holes to fill on his backline, so he moved Logan Pause from his midfield position of the last two seasons, to a central back this year.

But down 2-1 in the second half against No. 2 Wake Forest Saturday, Bolowich moved Pause up to attack as the Tar Heels tried to even the score.

"Logan can play multiple positions," Bolowich said. "He has an uncanny ability of reading the game and anticipating. I wanted to make the switch to spark a little more offense. So, switching him with (Ray) Fumo was, to me, the logical choice."

When the chance to move up front came, Pause's eyes got a little wider, he said.

"My eyes always get wide, even in practice, if I have a chance to run up top or in the midfield, I have a great time."

Pause made Bolowich's move look brilliant when he scored the game-tying goal in the 77th minute.

Although he's still learning the position, Pause has discovered one very certain thing about defense.

"That's one thing I've learned -- defense is definitely a mentality," he said. "It's all attitude. It's about adapting to reading the game. I'm not a one-v-one player or a defensive player, so I'm having to read the game and play smart to make up for that."

As Pause roams from touchline to touchline tracking down balls and sending them up to the midfield, he's shown the transition hasn't been too difficult.

"He's adjusted well," said UNC midfielder Matt Crawford. "He's a rock in the back for us. He always plays well, he doesn't make mistakes (and) everyone can rely on him."

Pause, along with Crawford, serves as co-captain of team, and demonstrated the leadership that comes with the position when a fight nearly broke out between UNC midfielder Sean McGinty and Wake defender Ryan Caugherty during overtime Saturday.

After UNC's Grant Porter pulled Caugherty down, Caugherty punched Porter in the stomach. McGinty was the only person who saw it, and he got right in Caugherty's face.

But before things progressed to blows, Pause pulled McGinty away and gave him a talking to.

"I just told him, 'well done,'" Pause said. "We're a family out here, and of course we don't want to see him get a yellow card for something like that, but sticking up for our players, that's what we're about. I definitely told him to cool it, so he wouldn't get tossed, but to see him stick up for Grant like that was great."

At 5 feet 10 inches, Pause is the smallest of the four UNC defenders, but he said the chance to hit people has made for a few smiles.

"I'm not too much of a hard hitter going in on tackles like what we had with Danny Jackson last year, but it's come along," Pause said. "I've had some fun hitting a few guys."

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