The new guys on the North Carolina men's soccer team are of one mind on most subjects.
They all love playing at UNC" they hate cleaning the balls after practice and they'll all take any ice pack off an injury to kick a ball around for a few more minutes.
Just don't ask them who scored the first goal.
""It had to be Kirk"" Alex Dixon says of teammate Kirk Urso.
Sheanon Williams — a defender — disagrees. I scored last year. In the spring.""
Williams gets a few elbows at that one. ""You serious?""
""You know" I scored in the spring too Urso shoots back.
Well" I scored before you did. I scored the first goal.""
Eventually Dixon moves the talk back to the regular season.
""Wait. Wasn't it Schuler?""
""Oh. Yeah. It was Schuler.""
And with Williams' concession" it's decided that it was striker Billy Schuler (against South Carolina. on Sept. 5).
But even the fact that so many names could be thrown into the mix says something about this Class of 2012.
Comprising three of the top five point scorers on UNC's roster this year and five of the top 10 the incoming class has made a contribution right from the start.
Though only defender Williams starts regularly" five of the eight incoming players have seen time in all 10 games this season.
""We brought in something like 10" or I'm not even sure the total number of incoming guys and transfers and they just all bring a great attitude senior Mike Callahan says.
The kind of attitude that we want our whole team to be about just hard working" and obviously they're very talented.""
Their resumes prove they have the talent to back up Callahan's claims.
Williams" Schuler and Urso played together for two and a half years in the U.S. Under-17 Residency Program in Florida. All three played in the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea.
Chris Lebo is a two-time Youth All-America selection. Jordan Gafa was named the San Diego County Athlete of the Year for boys' soccer last year as a high school senior.
Several in the group are members of the U.S. team pools for their age groups and most have a few state championships under their belts.
And coming from hometowns of Raleigh (keeper JP Davis) to Auckland New Zealand (defender John Niyonsaba) they all had quite a bit to get used to in their first years at UNC — especially Urso Schuler and Williams" who enrolled in January to start spring practices with the team.
""I guess with that whole thing it really helped me just to adjust to the school first" and then get in with the team and get to know the style and what the players are like Urso says.
You know we came in and we didn't do that CTOPS either" so that was a big jump right into college.""
And" for Williams a big jump into a backline that lost two key leaders last year" including team captain Andre Sherard.
""I think everybody hopes to start" but for me to start has definitely been — I mean it's been nice Williams says. I'm pretty vocal myself. I mean I talk a lot" so I try to help everybody else and help myself. Everybody's just trying to help each other.""
And the Tar Heels" coming off last year's tough season — the first in 10 years that the team didn't make the NCAA Tournament — are getting plenty of help from this group.
With nine goals they've recorded one-third of the team's total" and three of those were game-winners.
And they're not done yet.
""I mean" I'm trying to score as many goals as possible" says Dixon, whose four already leads the class.
His teammates laugh at that, but doing as much as possible"" is a common philosophy among these players" who are fighting for spots on the No. 12 team in the country.
And learning from the juniors and seniors who have been through the gamut has helped a lot" they say.
""They're all very" very good leaders Lebo says. They're all people you want to look up to" they're all people you want to try and be like.
""And they've been there with us step by step"" just helping us along and doing everything that they can possibly.""
But with learning from talented leaders comes competing against them for playing time"" and the players say simply training with the team is invaluable experience — for now.
""It's hard" Niyonsaba says. It's all competitive but it's like a safe" competitive environment where we're all pushing for a place.""
Niyonsaba" who from New Zealand had the farthest to come didn't make his way to Chapel Hill until August but many of the rookies made their way down during the summer to start working with coach Elmar Bolowich and his team.
Bolowich says that transition is a big part of the reason his players are succeeding now especially for Urso" Williams and Schuler.
""They trained with us the entire spring" and they learned how we play he says. That was a positive for them to adjust to college athletics" as well as college academics.
""And it shows now. They're relaxed" they know their roles" and they know how we want them to play and they can deliver.""
Spring and summer training helped with more than just on-the-field performance"" the players say. The opportunity to interact with current players was key to forming the chemistry the team now shares.
""Coming in and doing the preseason" all that kind of stuff really helped with learning how everyone played and just meeting guys doing that kind of thing" Lebo says.
All of the rookies knew each other before they came in. Urso and Schuler room together after meeting in residency in Florida, and Williams lives with Lebo — who he's known since we were both" like" 13.""
""It's having someone else there to kind of just hang out and know" Urso says. We already knew each other" so it wasn't like a totally new environment. It just helped to make it easier.""
For Urso" from Illinois Chapel Hill was a totally new environment. Keeper Davis is from Raleigh" and he knew exactly what it meant to be coming to play soccer at UNC.
""Everyone around here knows it's such a big deal what college you go to" he says. And coming to Carolina" it's just — it's really great.""
For Callahan" at least" it's this passion for the program and a strong work ethic that makes the Class of 2012 stand out.
""I think you can have talented guys not be successful if they don't have the right attitude" he says.
And they all come out every day to training and work as hard as they can and really as you can see" they're just contributing a ton.""
WATCH THE TAR HEELS TAKE ON VIRGINIA
Time: 7 p.m. today
Location: Fetzer Field
Info: www.tarheelblue.com
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
