University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 2 Tar Heels And No. 3 Terrapins To Battle Friday
October 19, 2011 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 19, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 2 North Carolina will return to action Friday when the Tar Heels host No. 3 Maryland at Fetzer Field with kickoff set for 5:30 p.m. The matchup will be the fourth straight between the two national powers in which both teams have been ranked among the top five in the nation. The match will be nationally televised live on ESPNU with Glenn Davis and Taylor Twellman on the call.
News And Notes
• North Carolina welcomes in conference foe Maryland with the top spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference on the line Friday night.
• Maryland sits in first place in the ACC with 12 points in five matches while the Tar Heels hold 10 points in five matches and are tied with Duke which also has 10 points but in six matches.
• The Tar Heels are looking to bounce back from their first defeat in 10 matches and just second of the season on Monday night at Davidson.
• Carolina still has one streak alive entering Friday's match as the Tar Heels are unbeaten in their last 20 matches at Fetzer Field dating back to a season-opening loss to Akron in 2010.
• During the 20 match home unbeaten streak UNC has outscored its opponents 49-16 with six shutouts during the run.
• Carolina has outscored its opponents 32-11 on the year but the big difference has been in the second half when the Tar Heels have found the back of the net 21 times while giving up just 4.
National Rankings
• The Tar Heels open the week ranked No. 2 in every national poll
• Maryland comes in ranked No. 3 in the country by the NSCAA, Soccer American and College Soccer News polls.
• The Terrapins are tabbed No. 4 in the Top Drawer Soccer Poll
• This will be the fourth straight meeting between Carolina and Maryland in which both teams are ranked among the top five in the country.
Series History
• The matchup will be the 70th overall between the Tar Heels and Terrapins.
• Maryland holds a 43-23-3 advantage over Carolina in the all-time series.
• Carolina snapped a nine-match unbeaten streak against Maryland last year with its 2-1 regular season win.
• The Tar Heels are 11-18-2 at home against the Terps but are 3-1-1 in the last five meetings in Chapel Hill.
Last Five Meetings
2010 - Maryland 1, Carolina 0 (ACC Tournament)
2010 - at Carolina 2, Maryland 1
2009 - at Maryland 1, Carolina 0
2008 - Maryland 1, Carolina 0 (NCAA College Cup Final)
2008 - Maryland 1, Carolina 0(ACC Tournament)
Probable Starting Lineup
| Pos. | No. | Goalkeeper | Cl. | GP/GS | GAA | Saves | W-L-T |
| GK | 1 | Scott Goodwin | Jr. | 14/14 | 0.76 | 26 | 11-2-1 |
| Pos. | No. | Player | Cl. | GP/GS | Goals | Assists | Points |
| D | 14 | Jordan Gafa | Jr.* | 14/14 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| D | 4 | Boyd Okwuonu | Fr. | 14/14 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| D | 6 | Matt Hedges | Sr. | 14/14 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| D | 9 | Jordan McCrary | Fr. | 13/13 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| M | 3 | Kirk Urso | Sr. | 14/12 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| M | 5 | Mikey Lopez | Fr. | 13/10 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| M | 16 | Enzo Martinez | Jr. | 14/13 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| F | 17 | Ben Speas | Jr. | 14/13 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| F | 10 | Billy Schuler | Jr.* | 14/14 | 10 | 2 | 22 |
| F | 25 | Rob Lovejoy | So. | 14/14 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
Second Half Scoring Outburst
• Carolina has outscored its opponents 32-11 on the year but have only managed to post a 10-6 advantage in the first half this season.
• The Tar Heels have scored a remarkable 21 goals in the second half in 2011, while allowing just four scores after the halftime whistle.
• The 21 second half goals are more than the season goal totals for 152 schools and would rank in a tie for 50th in the country.
Schuler Rounding Into Form
• Redshirt junior forward Billy Schuler has turned his play up a notch in the past three weeks having scored four goals in his last five matches.
• Schuler had his scoring streak snapped against Davidson on Monday as he had scored a goal in four straight matches.
• The Allentown, N.J., native leads the Tar Heels with 10 goals on the season and has set a single-season record having reached double figures in goals scored.
• Schuler ranks among the top 20 goal scorers in the country as he entered the week 14th in total goals and 17th in goals per game.
• Schuler has scored 23 career goals and is five goals shy of entering the top 10 in school history.
• A shoulder injury in the second game of the season ended Schuler's 2010 year but after off-season surgery the forward entered 2011 healthy.
Defense Keeping Shots To A Minimum
• The Tar Heels have out shot their opponent in 13 of 14 matches on the season and have significantly out shot their opponents in the last four matches 88-16.
• Carolina is averaging 19.6 shots per contest while allowing 7.7 shots per contest.
• Due to the Tar Heels controlling possession style opponents have had trouble finding shot opportunities but have taken advantage of the limited opportunities scoring four goals in the last four matches.
• After allowing a goal in the first five matches of the season the Tar Heel defense tightened up in the back as Carolina did not allow a goal over a four-match stretch from Sept. 16-27.
• The shutout streak equaled the longest since a string of four straight in 2006 when the Tar Heels shut out William & Mary, UCF, Ohio State and Penn State to open the season.
• The 2005 team holds the school record for consecutive shutouts when the squad turned in eight straight clean sheets.
• UNC leads the ACC in goals allowed at 11 and 0.79 per contest.
• Goalkeeper Scott Goodwin posted the fifth-longest shutout streak in school history during the run.
Longest Individual Shutout Streak
841:22 - Justin Hughes, 2005
685:03 - Kevin Kane, 1978
648:24 - Watson Jennison, 1992
501:33 - Michael Ueltschey, 2001
436:44 - Scott Goodwin, 2011
Tough Schedule The Rest Of The Way
• The Tar Heels have one of the toughest closing stretches in the country ahead of them as they will face three teams in the top 30 of the RPI.
• Carolina was tabbed No. 7 in the initial RPI rankings released on Tuesday.
• The Tar Heels will take on No. 2 Maryland and travel to No. 30 South Carolina and No. 21 Boston College with a visit from No. 97 NC State mixed in.
• Carolina is one of just 12 schools in the country to face three top 30 teams the rest of the regular season.
• Joining the Tar Heels with a tough slate is James Madison (No. 17), a team the Tar Heels beat 4-1 earlier in the year and Boston College (No. 21) who Carolina will play the final match of the regular season.
Martinez Continues To Impress
• Junior midfielder Enzo Martinez paced the Tar Heels in scoring last year by tallying 10 goals and five assists but had taken more of a distributor position in 2011 dishing out three assists in the first four games before erupting against James Madison.
• Martinez found the back of the net two times against the Dukes while adding an assist and kept the streak going this past week tallying two goals and two assists.
• The Rock Hill, S.C., native tallied the lone goal in the win over Wofford for his first game-winning goal of the campaign and had a foot in all three goals in the win at Virginia, picking up a goal and two assists in the win.
• For his efforts Martinez was named to the College Soccer News National Team Of The Week.
• Martinez has dished out a team-high seven assists on the season which ranks eighth in the country.
• Martinez has tallied either a goal or an assist in 9 of 14 matches this year.
Scouting Maryland
• Maryland has won its last two matches and have come out on the winning side in six of its last seven matches.
• The Terps will have been off a week when taking the pitch Friday after claiming a 4-2 home win over Duke on Oct. 14.
• Maryland and UNC have faced three common opponents in 2011 with Maryland going 2-1-0 against Virginia Tech (W, 2-0), Virginia (L, 2-1) and Duke (W, 4-2), while Carolina has gone 1-1-1 against the same three opponents: Virginia Tech (L, 1-0), Virginia (W, 3-0), Duke (T, 2-2).
• The Terps have two of the top goal scorers in the country in Casey Townsend and John Stertzer who have found the back of the net 12 and 11 times, respectively.
• Entering the week Maryland leads the nation in goals scored with 38 and is third in scoring offense as the Terps have averaged 2.53 goals per game this year.
• Maryland will be without one of its top assist men on Friday as Sunny Jane will miss the battle due to receiving a red card last week against Duke.
Plenty Of New Faces
• After losing six players to professional contracts with Major League Soccer, Carolina has eight new faces in the starting lineup.
• With an injury to senior defender Andrew McKinney the backline has four new starters as senior transfer Matt Hedges leads the group in the middle. Junior Jordan Gafa has filled in for McKinney, while the freshmen duo of Boyd Okwuonu and Jordan McCrary have stepped right into ACC action.
• Freshman playmaker Mikey Lopez has moved into a starting role in the midfield with Kirk Urso and Enzo Martinez and all three forwards are new starters. Billy Schuler only played two games a year ago before getting injured and is joined by sophomore Rob Lovejoy and junior transfer Ben Speas.
• Nine Tar Heel newcomers have taken the pitch for Carolina so far in 2011.
