UNC men's soccer drops third game in a row

All it took was one shot and eight minutes for the No. 14 North Carolina men’s soccer team to take the lead against unranked UNC-Wilmington.

Then the rest of the game happened.

The Seahawks (8-1-1, 1-0-0 CAA) scored three unanswered goals and four total in front of a record-setting crowd Tuesday night for a 4-3 victory over the Tar Heels (5-4-0, 1-2-0 ACC), their second in two years.

“I can’t remember the last time we gave up four goals,” coach Carlos Somoano said. “You can’t give up four goals and expect to win a game.”

UNC has now lost three straight games, allowing eight goals. The Seahawks dominated the Tar Heels on both offense and defense in the middle of the game, only allowing goals in the early and latter portions of the game.

“We just needed to play a little stronger as a team,” senior midfielder Verneri Valimaa said. “We need to start games a little bit better.”

Redshirt senior forward Rob Lovejoy provided the first offensive spark, splitting the defense to lob a pass across the face of the goal for 6-foot-5, junior defender Walker Hume to head into the net.

But the Tar Heels managed no shots on goal the rest of the half. In the 36th minute, UNC-W forward Alexander Schlobohm stole the ball and fired a shot into the top corner of the net for the tying goal.

The Seahawk attack continued relentlessly after halftime. Senior midfielder Jamie Dell and junior forward Colin Bonner both scored off defensive miscommunications within 10 minutes of each other.

UNC seemed frustrated for much of the game. They committed 21 fouls and had three yellow cards, including one called on the UNC bench.

But the Tar Heels shook off the frustration and battled back. Valimaa scored in the 68th minute to cut the lead to 3-2, then after Dell scored again in the 80th minute, freshman forward Alan Winn cut the lead to one in the 85th minute for the final margin.

UNC-W, ranked No. 22 by Top Drawer Soccer, brought out 2,613 for the game. The game was the last of four straight on the road for UNC — meaning the team has had little time to recover or train.

Aside from a mid-game lull, UNC played well offensively. The three goals scored by the team matched a season high and would have been enough to beat any other team UNC has played this season. The lack of balance doomed the Tar Heels, though.

“We have to have a combination of competitive effort and coordination and discipline,” Somoano said. “We’re kind of caught in between right now.”

sports@dailytarheel.com