After picking up two consecutive victories against Boston College and Syracuse — at the time, the team’s first wins in nearly a month — things were starting to turn around for the North Carolina men’s soccer team.
Last Tuesday, UNC-Wilmington traveled to Chapel Hill and threw a monkey wrench in the works, ending UNC’s streak by handing the team its third loss on the year.
But the No. 11 Tar Heels (6-3-5, 3-1-5 ACC) rebounded with a 1-0 win at Pittsburgh (0-9-4, 0-7-2 ACC) Saturday night.
Coach Carlos Somoano said the team approached the match like it does usually, but challenged his team to respond with a little bit of urgency.
“We take every game as a new opportunity. I don’t think you can get too down about a loss because that doesn’t mean you’re going to lose your next game,” he said. “You just have to try and put one foot in front of the other and move it along as fast and far as you can.”
And against the Panthers, the Tar Heels answered their coach’s call — faster than usual. On the team’s first shot of the game, junior forward Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler found the back of the net with his second goal of the year — the only one needed for UNC.
“It feels good when we get an early goal, which opens up the game a little bit for us,” junior midfielder Verneri Valimaa said. “On the play, I think the team pressed very well and it ended up being significant for Cooper because he pressed the guy, who misplayed the ball, and he had a simple goal to finish.”
Despite UNC’s ability to strike so early in the game, Somoano said he didn’t want the team to focus too much on the goal.
“In the end, you have to play 90 minutes, regardless,” he said. “I think having a goal, we overanalyze the psychology of when you score it. We tell our guys all the time, we try to score every minute that we’re out on the field — in that seventh minute, in the 89th minute — we keep pressing forward to try and get goals.”
