Penalty Kicks send the Tar Heels through to College Cup final

In last season’s College Cup run, the North Carolina men’s soccer team advanced on penalty kicks three straight times to make the national semifinal.

In this, their fourth consecutive College Cup appearance, the Tar Heels hadn’t needed a shootout to decide any outcome – until Friday night’s shootout, which UNC claimed 3-1.

All square with two goals apiece, the 110th minute of the game expired and both UCLA and UNC prepared for the game of soccer’s cruelest end.

Both captains took the first strike, but only UNC’s Kirk Urso scored in the first round of penalties.

In fact, goalkeeper Scott Goodwin stonewalled the first two Bruins, the captain Andy Rose and Pac-12 Player of the Year Kelyn Rowe, to take attempts. Rose tried to go to his left and Rowe his right but Goodwin’s diving hands were in the right place both times.

“For me, I wouldn’t care if it was the first two or the last two,” Goodwin said. “Going in you have to take the kick one at a time, go in there confidently and know what you’re going to do. You have to take it one at a time and try to get each one.”

Drew McKinney was the second Tar Heel to take a penalty and he found the net going to his right to put UNC up 2-0 after the first two rounds.

UCLA’s Victor Munoz was the only Bruin to score in the shootout when he took dead aim at the middle of the net. The Tar Heels leading scorer Billy Schuler then missed in his attempt, but he didn’t leave the field empty-handed.

It was Schuler that finished off what was a mighty strike from Enzo Martinez in the 85th minute to level the score at two and save the Tar Heels from elimination in regulation.

UCLA’s Fernando Monge missed the frame wide left to set the stage for Ben Speas to clinch North Carolina’s place in the national championship game.

And with one swift strike to the left side of the keeper, that’s just what he did.

“We’ve worked on our PK’s all year,” Speas said. “We know what we’re going to do. We know where we’re going to go. (I) just thought about the ball going in the net. Went up, took it, hit it.”

It was Speas’ excellent touch line maneuvering that led to UNC’s first equalizer in the 56th minute after a scoreless first half. Though UCLA had a lead at halftime the tide had already begun to turn in favor of the Tar Heels near the end of first 45 minutes.

The Tar Heels broke in to the scoring column when Speas sent one across the face of the goal to a streaking Rob Lovejoy who put a head on it to finish.

With the penalty kick finale, the Tar Heels earned the right to play UNC-Charlotte on Sunday in the national championship game.

“I thought that was a heck of a game – a very exciting, enjoyable game to be a part of,” UNC coach Carlos Somoano said. “UCLA was outstanding and I’m very proud of our guys for finding a way to get through. (I) Couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”