CARY — Following a 4-1 penalty shootout loss against N.C. State in the ACC tournament, North Carolina coach Elmar Bolowich conjured only one comparison for the opposing goalkeeper.
“PKs come down to level of confidence,” Bolowich said. “The goalie was like an albatross in there. He has a wingspan of 8 to 9 feet.”
The comparison might be more apt than Bolowich intended.
The albatross is considered a symbol of good fortune. And for N.C. State, the bird lived up to the billing.
N.C. State goalie Christopher Widman, with his arms outstretched, effectively signaled the end of UNC’s ACC tournament run.
The conference rivals went to penalty kicks in an ACC quarterfinal for the second time in the last seven seasons and the first time since 2003.
With a score knotted at one in the shootout, North Carolina midfielder Kirk Urso took a penalty kick that Widman blocked to his right.
“You’re trying to hit the target,” Urso said. “You’re picking a good spot, and you want to put a lot of pace on it. Fortunately for them, the keeper guessed the right way. I felt like I hit a good PK, and unfortunately he got a save on it.”
On UNC’s next kick, Billy Schuler hurled a shot to the left. Widman dove, saved and delivered. Widman’s acrobatics in goal gave N.C. State’s a win against UNC — a rare occurrence in recent seasons.
It was only then that members of N.C State finally stood up — and raised their arms to the crowd.
Prior to the matchup, UNC had lost just once to the Wolfpack since 1997 and owned a 5-0-1 mark in tournament play against N.C. State.
“It was obviously a tough, tough game for us,” Bolowich said. “I cannot fault our players for anything. They gave their best effort and faced a very, very strong and well-organized opponent today that made life difficult for us.”
Overtime followed a tension-filled final minute of regulation, including Enzo Martinez’s open chip from about 20 yards out that sailed just over the crossbar.
North Carolina struggled to establish an offensive rhythm and recorded just 10 shot attempts in regulation. Of those 10, only three came in the second half.
Bolowich said the Tar Heels failed to apply pressure in the second half, though conditions were not conducive to do so.
He attributed the team’s cautious play to weather conditions, which included a slick field, wind and a steady downpour of rain throughout the game.
And though the Tar Heels managed to pull out a close win in similar conditions earlier this year against East Tennessee, North Carolina’s conference rivals capitalized on the opportunities Wednesday.
“Tonight I thought both teams played hard and it could have gone either way,” UNC goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty said. “I thought we could pull it out, but it just didn’t happen.”
North Carolina saw few scoring opportunities as the seconds wound down Wednesday night.
“In conditions like that, it is hard to find a rhythm to play,” Bolowich said. “It came down to a battle of grinding it out and not making mistakes. As a player that’s first and foremost on your mind, rather than playing free and normally what you do under better conditions.
“I think we were just concerned with not messing up rather than making opportunities.”
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
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