After some frustrating losses in September, the UNC men’s soccer team started out October with a bang, blowing out rival NC State at Dorrance Field Sunday night, 4-0.
Junior midfielder Cameron Fisher scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season in the 31st minute to put Carolina ahead. Fisher took a long, arcing pass from defender Filippo Zattarin that hit his feet in stride, and ran away from the NC State defense for a clinical 1-on-1 goal.
The score stayed 1-0 until the 69th minute, when a cross into the box found the foot of freshman Tega Ikoba, who flicked the ball into the corner of the net to extend the Carolina lead to 2-0. It was Ikoba’s third goal of the season, tying him for second place among his teammates.
Fisher added yet another goal in the 84th minute for his fifth of the year, a beautiful individual effort in which he moved around two Wolfpack defenders and sent his shot through the legs of the NC State goalkeeper. Gerit Wintermeyer tacked on Carolina’s fourth goal for good measure just five minutes later, connecting off a picture-perfect assist from Aldair Sanchez.
“I’ve been here since 2002 and there are just some Carolina Soccer nights,” said head coach Carlos Somoano. “That was one of them. I was thinking about it afterwards and chatting with the guys on the walk in, and I don’t think I’ve felt that since 2018. Last year we had some great matches, but no fans, and you just don’t get that same aura.”
UNC outshot NC State on the evening by a 15-7 margin, and notably were not called offsides a single time during the match. The four goals scored are the most the Tar Heel men have netted in a single game since 2011. They are now 56-22-12 all-time against NC State.
Carolina goalkeeper Alec Smir made four saves to deny the Wolfpack any opportunities, and recorded his sixth shutout of the season.
The win gave the Tar Heels their first ACC home victory of the season. UNC is now 2-2 in conference play and 6-3-1 overall. Their next match is a big one: Wake Forest visits Dorrance Field on Friday, October 8 in a rematch of last season’s NCAA quarterfinals. Carolina eliminated Wake Forest in that match by a 2-1 score to advance to the College Cup.
Featured image via Carolina Athletics
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