The UNC men’s soccer team bounced back from its first loss of the season Tuesday night in Chapel Hill, handily beating visiting Florida Gulf Coast 3-0.

A spectacular goal from Parker O’Ferral – the first in the sophomore defender’s collegiate career – opened the scoring in the 16th minute. O’Ferral corralled a deflection off a corner kick before hammering the ball in off the bottom of the crossbar. Ernest Bawa followed up that effort four minutes later with a penalty kick goal to double the UNC advantage.

The Tar Heels controlled play for most of the first half, outshooting the Eagles 9-3 and taking seven corner kicks. Carolina held against a more lively FGCU effort in the second half, as goalkeeper Andrew Cordes stopped three Eagle shots on goal. FGCU came millimeters away from scoring off a corner kick, as an Eagle tried to slot home a rebound off the crossbar past Cordes. The ball deflected off both Cordes and a Carolina defender and bounced along the goal line before Cordes pawed it away. The Eagles were convinced they’d scored, but play was not stopped.

Carolina’s Martin Vician finally put the hammer down in the 81st minute, scoring the third Tar Heel goal off an error from the Eagle goalkeeper on a long ball ahead from the Tar Heel half of the pitch.

The win improves Carolina’s record on the season to 6-1-4. The Tar Heels’ next match will be a difficult one, as they will travel to Winston-Salem to face No. 4 Wake Forest on Saturday at 7 p.m. Like Carolina, the Demon Deacons have lost only once this season.

 

Featured image via UNC Men’s Soccer on Twitter

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