Diminutive McCarty enforces the midfield

If somebody said Dax McCarty was a great soccer player, anyone who looked at him likely would think he's the best player on his middle school team.

Wrong.

The scrawny, red-haired, 5-foot-9, 142-pounder is actually a starter and major contributor for the No. 3-ranked North Carolina men's soccer team.

The sophomore, who played sparingly for the Tar Heels last season, has stepped up his play this year, controlling the midfield, taking free and corner kicks and acting as the field general for UNC.

"He matured tremendously," said UNC coach Elmar Bolowich. "Last year was a great learning experience for him in our league. He's another one who will make the next step and establish himself as a wonderful ACC-level player."

McCarty was pushed around a lot last season because of his diminutive size, but his unquestioned ball-handling skills have allowed him to play at the college level.

"I'm a small player so I can't go and try to hold players off the ball," McCarty said. "So I can't use my physical attributes because I'm not the biggest guy. I think I just have to make my foot skills and my awareness around me that much better."

McCarty notched a goal in the Tar Heels' first victory of the season but has been kept out of the back of the net since. He came close Friday against Clemson, as he rocketed a ball off the post. But like most things he does on the field, McCarty's shot helped the Tar Heels, as freshman midfielder Scott Campbell took the rebound off the post and put it home for UNC.

"My contributions to the game have been more than getting points. Hard work. Trying to get everybody else involved. I think it would feel really good to get that second goal, get over the hump."

When looking at McCarty, one of the last words that would come to mind probably would be "enforcer." But that is exactly what he is.

"He's an enforcer in the midfield," Campbell said. "He's a definite leader in the midfield - that's what we need. Our midfield's young, really young - but Dax is definitely a leader in the midfield."

McCarty takes all the corner kicks for the Tar Heels when he's on the field, and he takes a majority of the free kicks as well. Like Tim Merritt did for the Tar Heels last year, McCarty is also the link between the midfield and the offense, carrying the ball up the field into an offensive situation.

"I'm very comfortable with the ball on my feet," he said. "I hope the guys have a lot of faith in me when I get the ball. I just do what I do best, find other players, try to get involved as much as possible and all in all just try and get the ball forward and take some pressure off of our defense."

The cliche goes, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog," and that couldn't be more true for McCarty.

"Hey, that kid's got a humongous heart," Campbell said. "It's ridiculous. He'll win a ball over someone twice his size. Just pure heart. Just a great player."

 

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