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The Daily Tar Heel

Late-season streak: UNC wins 4th in a row

Tar Heels' early lead keys 2-0 victory against State

North Carolina and N.C. State fans frequently exchanged resounding chants of "Tar-Heels" and "Wolf-Pack" during the men's soccer contest at Fetzer Field on Sunday.

In the end, the Wolfpack proved no match for the Tar Heels on and off the field, as UNC rode its dominant crowd support to a 2-0 win against State.

Tim Merritt and Corey Ashe provided the goals, while senior midfielder Andrew Rhea supplied the assists on the two Tar Heel scores - both of which came in the first half.

The first score came in the eighth minute, when Rhea passed to Merritt off of a free kick. The senior defender then floated a one-timer past NCSU goalkeeper Jorge Gonzalez for the goal.

The other score by the Tar Heels (7-6-2, 3-2-0 in the ACC) came in the waning minutes of the first half after Rhea shot a rocket toward the goal. Gonzalez tipped the shot away, but the ball rolled toward Ashe, who tapped it in for his sixth goal of the season.

"We've been practicing on our finishing and our free kicks, and we've been doing pretty well on them," Rhea said. "That practice definitely paid off in today's game."

The defensive play of goalkeeper Ford Williams also paid off for the Tar Heels.

Williams had five saves, including four impressive knockaways at the goal line. The junior managed to thwart the Wolfpack's 15 shot attempts and record his third shutout of the year.

"(That level of play) just comes from being in the zone, and if you're in it and things work correctly, you get the dominant response that you want," Williams said. "It's just kind of a reactionary thing."

In the second half, the Tar Heels clamped down defensively on the Wolfpack (6-6-1, 1-4-1) and allowed just five shots on goal.

"(N.C. State) barely had any chances in the second half and wasn't really a threat to us, and that was the main goal," Rhea said. "We were trying to get counterattack goals and keep the ball."

The victory extended North Carolina's winning streak to four games and pushed its record above .500 for the first time since early September.

"We've taken the mistakes we made in the beginning of the season and have learned from them," said UNC coach Elmar Bolowich. "Recently, we haven't given up games in the late moments, and every game has been an improvement in the right direction."

UNC's goalkeeper reiterated the team's change in play and attitude.

"We're playing with a whole lot of pride now, and guys are a lot more dedicated to the success of the team," Williams said.

Surprisingly, the squad's recent success began when sophomore forward Jamie Watson, the team's second-leading scorer, was removed from the starting lineup in order to provide a spark off the bench.

But Bolowich took the bigger picture into account when explaining this move.

"I don't think it's that much of a difference with Watson starting or coming off the bench," Bolowich said. "I think it's the rotation we have now, and it wouldn't be any different if he was playing from the start.

"We've just gone with this lineup, and it's been successful, so why not stick with it?"

Although North Carolina's unranked status falls short of their preseason expectations, Williams said he does not see this as a disadvantage for this squad.

"We just had to reset our goals," Williams said. "We decided about halfway through the season that we were going to take a clean slate and start over.

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"Maybe things could happen, maybe not. We just have to take it one game at a time."

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.