Somoano: Pandemic Scheduling Helped UNC Find Its Way to the College Cup

With the UNC men’s soccer program set for its first College Cup game since 2017 on Friday against Marshall, head coach Carlos Somoano spoke with reporters earlier this week and shared what the ride has been for the Tar Heels this season.

Collegiate soccer is typically just a fall sport. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was split across the fall and the spring.

The Tar Heels went just 3-2-2 in the fall and lost in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals to Notre Dame, looking like a solid team but far from a national title contender.

A shocking 1-0 loss at home to Liberty in the spring opener on Feb. 25 didn’t do much to change that perception, but UNC managed a 3-0 victory over then-No. 4 Pitt in its very next game.

The momentum from that win has carried the Tar Heels through to this point now, with the only other loss coming by another 1-0 score line on April 2 against Virginia Tech. That stretch includes a tie against Syracuse, regular season wins over Virginia, Notre Dame and Duke as well as three consecutive NCAA Tournament wins over Charlotte, Stanford and Wake Forest.

Despite the hot finish to the year, UNC still failed to earn a national seed for the NCAA Tournament because of how it began the season.

“If I were to look at our team,” said Somoano, “and kind of track back mentally and say, ‘well how would we have done if we had 12 days of preseason and then played 20 games in 10 weeks?’ I’m not saying we couldn’t be here, but I think our chances [would have been] a whole lot lower than they are.”

The schedule born out of issues related to the pandemic allowed a Carolina team with a plethora of new players grow together and learn during the mid-season break. Somoano, who was an advocate for this style of schedule prior to the pandemic, said the results have furthered his belief this should be the new normal for the sport.

UNC has arguably benefitted more than any other school from the change, seeing both its men’s and women’s programs reach this year’s College Cup. Anson Dorrance’s women’s team went undefeated through seven spring games and have yet to allow a goal since the final game of the fall — a loss to No. 1 Florida State in the ACC title game.

“It’s no secret that I’m a big proponent of what we call the 21st century model,” Somoano said. “The two-semester model, we’ve put a lot of work into it. It almost took over becoming a second full-time job for me. I believe it’s just the right thing to do for the health, welfare and experience for the student-athlete. I think it’s clear what best practices are for the sport of soccer. It’d be lovely to just distribute what we do over the course of time as opposed to feast or famine.”

UNC has won two NCAA championships in men’s soccer, but was seeded No. 7 overall in 2001 and No. 1 back in 2011 — Somoano’s first year as head coach.

Friday’s semifinal game against Marshall, set for 6 p.m at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, will pit a pair of unseeded teams against one another for a chance to play for the title against either No. 2 Pitt or No. 3 Indiana.

Should the Tar Heels win and then face Pitt, there’s a chance the same team that helped UNC kick-start its spring hot streak could be the same opponent that helps them finish it in style.

Photo via UNC Athletics.

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Somoano: Pandemic Scheduling Helped UNC Find Its Way to the College Cup

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