When North Carolina's Brett King received a red card in the 70th minute of UNC's College Cup game against the No. 1 seeded Akron Zips, one got a sense that the sending off might have been the death knell of the UNC men's soccer team's season.
Usually getting a starting defender sent off with 20 minutes remaining in regulation - against the No. 1 scoring offense in the country, no less - is cause for panic.
Indeed, the Tar Heels' season did end on Friday night.
They took Akron all the way to the brink, playing 40 straight gritty, grinding, nerve-wracking minutes with10 men. UNC could not quite finish the job in penalty kicks, converting on four out of five, while the Zips converted all five to move on to the finals on Sunday.
"I wasn't so concerned about (King's ejection) because in the past we've looked better with a man down than with 11 on the field sometimes," UNC head coach Elmar Bolowich said. "It was a matter of keeping our organization, and the players understanding as to how we need to press.
"We have done it in practice on numerous occasions, and the guys were comfortable doing it in practice as well. It's not unfamiliar territory."
North Carolina had three opportunities to score their own golden goal in the last three minutes of overtime. Potential hero Jordan Graye had his header cleared off the line by the Akron defender stationed at the far post for the corner kick.
Not five minutes later, Graye watched his penalty kick fly over the crossbar - the only member of either team not to find the back of the net in the session.
"Well, what can you say?" Bolowich said. "You cannot say anything because he feels bad about that. This is just the way it goes, so to have the courage to step up to the line, and take the PK is what we want the players to do. So he missed one."
