Humes twins save Tar Heels against VCU

In a match riddled with turnovers, twin brothers Tucker and Walker Hume were a bright spot for the No. 3 North Carolina men’s soccer team, which defeated Virginia Commonwealth University 3-2 Monday night despite a remarkable effort from the Rams.

UNC (3-0) came into the match with two 3-0 victories over Cal Poly and Saint Louis. But the contest against VCU (0-3) had a different feel.

Redshirt senior Walker Hume got the Tar Heels off to a hot start, burying a header off redshirt senior Nico Melo’s corner kick in the fifth minute of the match.

After the quick start, the Tar Heels were complacent. The first big mistake by North Carolina came on a bad tackle in the box that gave VCU a penalty kick in the 19th minute. The Rams’ Dakota Barnathan placed the ball the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.

Less than a minute later, VCU was awarded a free kick in deadly territory after first-year defender Mauricio Pineda was booked with a yellow card. The Rams did not waste their opportunity, as Jorge Herranz sent in a gorgeous ball to Lyndsey Moreland, who promptly blasted it past redshirt sophomore goalkeeper James Pyle to give VCU a 2-1 lead.

“Our intensity in general has to be better,” Coach Carlos Somoano said. “I think last weekend came a little too easy for us. We scored five minutes into the game and I think the natural thought was that we were just going to roll.”

The quick run by the Rams woke up UNC, and the teams went back and forth. An intense 10-minute stretch was capped off with a goal in the 31st minute by North Carolina’s super-sub Tucker Hume. A slick pass by junior forward Zach Wright set up the redshirt senior to tie the game at two apiece.

The goal gave the Tar Heels some momentum going into halftime and a chance to calm back down and reassess the defense.

“Going into the second half, we just had to go out there and raise our level,” Tucker Hume said.

But miscues continued to plague UNC.

Though possessions were lengthy at times, the Tar Heels were not connecting in the final third. The most glaring defensive mistake came in the 72nd minute.

A bad pass by sophomore defender Alex Comsia left VCU’s Luc Fatton one-on-one with Pyle. Fatton pushed the shot wide-right, allowing the Tar Heels to sigh in relief.

With the match looking like it would go to overtime, the Rams made their own mistake on the back line — a mistake that Tucker Hume made sure they would regret.

He collected the ball, dribbled and slotted one past the VCU keeper in the 82nd minute. The go-ahead goal was enough for the Tar Heels, as they escaped the scare from the Rams.

“Coach told us that we needed to defend harder,” Walker Hume said. “We were losing one-on-one battles and losing our feet too much ... We weren’t really sticking to what we do best. And that’s getting down and grinding and playing Carolina defense.”

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