GoHeels Exclusive: Wake Slips Past Heels In Heavyweight Battle

CARY, N.C. — Throughout much of Friday's match at WakeMed Soccer Park, the No. 4 North Carolina men's soccer team and No. 2 Wake Forest demonstrated why they're considered favorites to return to the College Cup.

Both teams, each ousted by eventual national champion Stanford last season, maintained possession in the middle of the field for a majority of the match. They also thwarted numerous scoring chances defensively.

But in a game that featured the nation's top two scoring teams, the Tar Heels, plagued by injuries and exhaustion, fell 2-1 against the Demon Deacons.

"We just hit the wall, played fatigued, looked tired," said Carlos Somoano after UNC's nine-match winning streak was snapped. "Wake Forest is not a good team to play tired against. Just didn't have it in the tank tonight."

Friday's match marked the Tar Heels' 13th, the most they've played through the first six weeks of a season during Somoano's seven-year tenure. UNC hasn't gone more than three days without playing a game since Sept. 5-8.

The challenges of such a demanding schedule have only been compounded by injuries. David October became the latest Tar Heel to be sidelined when he sat out Friday's game.

Still, UNC (11-2-0, ACC 4-1-0) and Wake Forest (11-1-0, ACC 5-0-0) were the only unbeaten teams in the ACC entering Friday. And although they trailed 1-0 at halftime, the Tar Heels held their own in the first half, matching the Demon Deacons with five shots and trailing 5-3 on corner kicks.

"I thought the first half we had decent energy," Somoano said. "The second half is when we hit the wall."

UNC needed little time to tie the match in the second half, as Cam Lindley scored on a free kick at the 46:36 mark. The goal marked his sixth of the season and fourth over the past three games.

But from there, the depleted Tar Heels – who saw three reserves play a season-low 27 bench minutes, 106 off the team's season average – appeared to wear down.

The Demon Deacons scored the game-winning goal in the 66th minute, when Ema Twumasi's cross found Jon Bakero for a one-time finish. UNC didn't come close to responding until Alan Winn missed a shot, the team's first in 20 minutes, wide right at the 76:00 mark.

Lindley, who Somoano said looked fatigued, eventually moved up a line to potentially ignite the offensive attack.

"(We were) trying to take some defensive pressure off him to maybe utilize his legs in the attack a little bit," Somoano said. "But it was probably more that he just started to look a little bit gassed and whatever energy he was going to spend I was hoping would be in the attack."

The strategy nearly paid off in the 86th minute. But a shot by Lindley was blocked and Jelani Pieters missed wide right after corralling the ball, and the Tar Heels ultimately dropped their first game since losing to UNCW, 1-0 on Sept. 1.

UNC gets six days off before visiting No. 7 Louisville on Oct. 13. However, despite their final four regular-season contests spanning nearly three weeks, the road doesn't get any easier for the Tar Heels, whose remaining opponents boast a combined 30-9-5 record.

"The last game was tough, this game is tough, the next game is tough, the one after that will be tough …" Somoano said. "Each one is tough. I wouldn't separate any game that we have this year."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

GoHeels Exclusive: Wake Slips Past Heels In Heavyweight Battle

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Players Mentioned

Cam Lindley

David October

Jelani Pieters

Alan Winn

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