Carolina visited in-state foe Davidson for some Labor Day festivities, and the team wearing white left the field with a loss.

Freshman Tega Ikoba’s two goals, the first of his collegiate career, powered the No. 5 UNC men’s soccer team to their best performance of the season, a shutout of the No. 22 Wildcats Monday night.

The Tar Heels controlled every facet of the game to quiet the hostile crowd just down Interstate 85. Over 90 minutes, Carolina outshot the Wildcats 10-4, committed fewer fouls, and despite the shot discrepancy, made more saves on the evening.

Ikoba’s first goal to open the scoring appeared to be straight out of a training video, with crisp UNC passes connecting on a combination play to find the freshman from Alabama in Davidson’s box. At six feet and four inches, Ikoba is one of the tallest players on head coach Carlos Somoano’s roster, and the big man displayed remarkably deft feet to turn the ball into the back of the Davidson net.

Carolina continued their strong play throughout the second half, denying Davidson any opportunity for an equalizer with airtight defense. The Tar Heels finally added an insurance goal from Santiago Herrera in the 85th minute, as the fifth-year forward from Venezuela finished off a brilliant counterattacking run from Jonathan Jimenez by turning in a loose ball in front of the net.

The goal took the gumption out of any Wildcat comeback attempts, and just four minutes later Ikoba truly put the match to bed. The freshman found space in the attacking half again before unleashing a howitzer for his second goal of the evening. It was quite the coming-out party for Ikoba, who had only played 57 minutes collectively over Carolina’s first three matches. After his brace Monday night, look for that to change sooner rather than later.

The victory stands as UNC’s first ranked win of the year, but they won’t have to wait long to potentially add to that number. A challenging road trip to No. 3 Pittsburgh awaits on Friday, September 10.

 

Featured image via Carolina Athletics

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