University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Tar Heels Ousted From ACC Tourney By No. 1 Wake On PKs
November 1, 2006 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 1, 2006
GERMANTOWN, Md. - No. 7 seed North Carolina was eliminated from the 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Championship by No. 1-ranked and second-seeded Wake Forest on penalty kicks, 5-4, Wednesday in quarterfinal action at the Maryland SoccerPlex. After the teams played 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, Demon Deacon freshman Zack Schilawski made the winning PK in the sixth round of kicks.
Wake Forest will advance to play the winner of today's Clemson-Virginia match at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The match is recorded as a tie, and tenth-ranked Carolina is now 11-5-3, while Wake Forest is 15-2-2. The bids for the 48-team field of the 2006 NCAA Tournament will be announced Monday, Nov. 6 between 4-5 p.m. on ESPNews.
After Michael Harrington and Ted Odgers connected on the Tar Heels' first two penalty kicks, freshman goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty, who came off the bench for the PKs, stopped Ryan Solle's shot toward the lower right-hander corner of the net. Wake Forest keeper Brian Edwards followed with a stop on Garry Lewis' attempt, and WFU freshman Will Clayton followed with a make to even the slate at two.
Alternating makes by Carolina's Bill Dworsky and Ben Hunter and the Deacs' Austin da Luz and Sam Cronin made the score 4-4 before Edwards stopped Scott Campbell on Carolina's sixth attempt. Schilawski followed with a strike to the lower right corner for the winner.
The Tar Heels have now dropped two straight ACC Tournament matches on penalty kicks by a 5-4 margin. Duke claimed last year's ACC title on PKs over the Tar Heels.
Carolina nearly avoided penalty kicks on shot from Campbell with just a minute left in the second overtime period. Dworsky fed Campbell from the left side, and he fired from 15 yards out only to be denied by a diving stop from Edwards. Neither team found a strong scoring opportunity in the first overtime, but the Tar Heels dictated the pace of play for much of the 10-minute period and did manage four shots to just one for Wake.
The Tar Heels turned up the pressure on the offensive end out of the gates in the second half, outshooting Wake Forest 7-1 over the first 20 minutes after intermission. The Deacs' lone shot over this stretch was a 25-yard free kick by Steven Curfman that was stopped by a diving Justin Hughes to preserve the scoreless tie. The Tar Heels, who had three shots on goal in the second half, finished with a 10-3 edge on the shot chart in the period. The teams finished regulation with 11 shots each.
Wake's best chance in the first half came when Wells Thompson was one-on-one with Hughes but sent his shot attempt over the cross bar in the 20th minute. The Deacons also put two other shots on net that were halted by Hughes. Carolina had a one-on-one attempt of its own in the 32nd minute when Stephen Bickford took a through ball from Corey Ashe and put a shot on goal that was stopped by Edwards.
Both Hughes and Edwards finished with four saves in the match. The Tar Heels outshot Wake Forest, 17-12, and held an 8-2 advantage in corners. Carolina has scored in just one of its last five games but picked up its eighth shutout of the season Wednesday.
