DAVIDSON — When the whistle blew to signal the kickoff of Monday night’s match between the No. 2 North Carolina men’s soccer team and Davidson, UNC goalkeeper Scott Goodwin had one simple, succinct request for his teammates.
“Get one in early.”
They didn’t. But then again, neither did the Wildcats.
In fact, neither team managed to find the back of the net in the opening half. The scoreless draw ended 37 minutes into the second half, when Davidson netted the first goal of the game.
Davidson tallied in the 82nd minute, giving the Tar Heels limited time to equalize. Eight minutes later, UNC’s nine-game undefeated streak was broken to a Davidson team that hadn’t beaten North Carolina since 2002.
Coach Carlos Somoano noted Davidson’s defensive strategy as something that was hard to overcome for the Tar Heels.
“(Stacking all 11 players in the box) is the way they tried to go about winning the game,” he said. “And it worked today. I think the key to how they won the game is the guy smashed the ball as hard as he could, and it happened to find the corner of the net. If you asked him to do it 10 more times he probably wouldn’t even hit the net.”
The game was full of obstacles for both teams. In the 20th minute, Davidson notched a breakaway goal from 19 yards out, but it was ruled offside.
The Tar Heels, too, had missed opportunities. During the opening half, Mikey Lopez crossed to Billy Schuler, who headed it toward the crossbar, but Davidson’s top 100 goalie Chip Sanders denied him the goal.