Concluding a four-game home stand Friday night against ACC rival North Carolina, the Virginia men's soccer team came up short against the nation's fourth-ranked team and lost 3-0 despite dominating much of the match. The defeat dropped the Cavaliers (5-4-0, 1-1-0 ACC) into a tie for fourth in the conference while the Tar Heels (7-1-0, 2-1-0) moved into second.
Although the result indicated a vastly superior performance by the visiting team, Virginia actually controlled possession and displayed greater consistency in creating quality opportunities, especially in the second half. The Tar Heels, however, held the upper hand in capitalizing on their chances.
"It's unfortunate," senior midfielder Felipe Libreros said. "We got [to the net] probably like 10 times. We didn't score. They got there twice, and they did score. That's how soccer is. You have to take care of your chances."
At the start of the game, the Cavaliers were the more aggressive team. The momentum turned suddenly in the Tar Heels' favor 19 minutes into the game when Virginia suffered a key injury in the central midfield. Freshman midfielder Eric Bird, who has started eight of the nine matches of his young career, crumpled to the ground with a knee injury which left him unable to bear weight on the leg.
The injury forced Virginia coach George Gelnovatch to go to his bench early and replace Bird with freshman midfielder Conner Rezende. Bird's absence noticeably affected the team's assertiveness on offense for the remainder of the first half. After weathering Virginia's early attacks, Carolina managed the greater number of shots at halftime, 10-5.
"When Eric Bird went down, that affected us," Gelnovatch said. "It affected us emotionally. [The Tar Heels] scored a goal, and some of the young guys got a little funky." The Tar Heels grabbed the lead during the 29th minute on redshirt junior forward Billy Schuler's sixth goal of the year. After a series of Carolina scoring threats, the Cavalier defense finally broke down when a scramble for a loose ball 10 yards out from the goal led to Schuler's goal.
Junior midfielder Enzo Martinez won possession and poked the ball to Schuler, and the All-American freed himself from the fracas and buried a strike into the right corner of the net.
Redshirt junior defender Sean Hiller provided an assessment of the Virginia back line which perhaps could be attributed to the entire team. "We play well overall, and then we have little lapses where we let guys run past us," Hiller said. "It just seems like we don't have any luck right now."
The Cavaliers' best chance of the half came on a set piece about 25 yards out from goal during the 43rd minute. The Tar Heels, concerned about Virginia's junior forward and ACC scoring leader Will Bates, were called for a reckless tackle which took out Bates' feet from under him. On the ensuing free kick, the Cavaliers again proved unable to crack North Carolina's defense.
From the moment the teams took the field for the start of the second half, Virginia displayed more urgency, and it appeared that its efforts would eventually pay off. Redshirt senior defender Greg Monaco ignited the crowd when he headed in one of Virginia's four second-half corner kicks to seemingly tie the game at 1-1. The goal soon was wiped off the board, though, when referee Tony Crush signaled for a foul on the Cavaliers.
During the 62nd minute, Virginia pressured North Carolina again and set up Libreros for a volley which missed wide to the right - another unfruitful possession which typified the Cavaliers' night.
At the opposite end of the pitch, the Tar Heels had no such trouble as they tallied two more goals to put the game away despite rarely holding the ball in Virginia's end. The Tar Heels' second goal came courtesy of a disputed penalty kick awarded for a handball in the box by freshman forward Ryan Zinkhan.
Martinez drilled the spot kick into the left upper-ninety to double Carolina's lead with 15 minutes left on the clock. Martinez then capped his big night with his second assist and third point during the 81st minute. Freshman midfielder Mikey Lopez took a pass from Martinez and served a cross into the box where sophomore forward Carlos McCrary was positioned for a close-range header.
"If we play like we did in the second half, we won't have any trouble with any other team," Libreros said. "[North Carolina] is one of the best teams in the country and we dominated the whole second half. If we face them in the ACC [tournament], it's going to be a different game for sure."
The Cavaliers will now have a full week to lick their wounds and prepare for two upcoming conference games beginning with a trip to Clemson Sept. 30.
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