Tar Heels return to NCAA College Cup

The past two years, the North Carolina men’s soccer team has made it to the final four of the College Cup and left with its goal of bringing a national title to UNC unfulfilled.

A 1-0 drop to ACC competitor Maryland in 2008’s title game and a 5-4 PK fall to Akron in last year’s semifinals sent the Tar Heels back to Chapel Hill with hopes of another go-around.

And for the third year in a row, No. 4 UNC will have a shot at earning the program’s second national title by returning to the College Cup, held this year in Santa Barbara, Calif.

“The expectation has always been there, I have to say,” UNC coach Elmar Bolowich said. “Even when we had some injuries, I felt like we were strong enough to still pull through.”

After three penalty-kick advancements, UNC will make its way to the west coast as the first team to make it to the final four without winning a game in the NCAA Tournament. While that doesn’t bother Bolowich, who has had the team decide practice games on PKs since September, senior Michael Farfan is after straight-out wins in the Tar Heels’ remaining tournament games.

“We’re pretty confident when we go to penalty kicks, but obviously it’s not our goal,” Farfan said. “We’d like to finish in regulation, so hopefully we can do a better job of that and not have to rely on trying to dish it out.”

After one of UNC men’s soccer’s most successful seasons, the Tar Heels (16-3-4) clinched a regular season ACC title with an undefeated 7-0-1 conference record. But an ACC Tournament title slipped through UNC’s grasp when the Tar Heels dropped a 1-0 final game to Maryland, a team UNC had previously beaten.

The Tar Heels still secured a No. 4 seed in NCAAs to earn a first-round bye before securing three ties against Georgetown, Michigan State and Southern Methodist.

A team that’s been constantly depleted throughout the season, UNC has faced a host of injuries that have kept reliable players like Cameron Brown and Billy Schuler permanently on the injured list. A total of 10 other active North Carolina players have faced injuries so far, but North Carolina managed to use the disadvantages to find depth.

“Adversity is something that when it strikes, you want to have competent guys on the field who can deal with it and who can also find solutions,” Bolowich said. “Sometimes the solution comes from the bench, sometimes the solution comes from within. That’s what strikes me about this team. They come up with their own solutions.”

Joining Louisville, Michigan and Akron in the final four, UNC is finally healthy and has found multiple strengths in inexperienced players like freshman Robbie Lovejoy finding time on the field.

Anchored by keeper Scott Goodwin, who is ranked No. 7 in the nation in goals against average, North Carolina’s defense has secured 11 shutouts and is ranked 16th as a team.

The Tar Heels’ offense can rely on the game-steadying Farfan, leading-scorer Enzo Martinez and junior Kirk Urso for production moving into the final two matches of the NCAA season.

North Carolina will face undefeated No. 1 Louisville in the College Cup semifinals Friday at 8:30 p.m. armed with the same purpose they set out with for the first game of the season.

“It’s been on our minds from day one,” junior forward Alex Dixon said. “We’re back in the final four, and we don’t want to go home empty-handed again.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.