University of North Carolina Athletics
ACC Lead On The Line
October 18, 2012 | Men's Soccer
ACC Lead On The Line
The top two teams in the ACC and the country will do battle on the pitch Friday in College Park, Md., when No. 2 North Carolina travels to No. 1 Maryland for a 6 p.m. contest on ESPNU.
Carolina has won seven straight matches and are unbeaten its last eight times out.
The Terrapins are unbeaten in their 13 contests this season, while Carolina has suffered just one setback in 2012.
The series has been controlled by Maryland throughout the years as the Terps own a 43-23-4 advantage but Carolina is 1-1-1 in the last three contests.
The 2010 side snapped a nine-match winless streak with a 2-1 win in Chapel Hill before dropping a 1-0 decision in the ACC Final later in the year. The teams battled to a 1-1 draw a year ago.
Carolina has dropped its last five matches in College Park dating back to a 5-1 win over the Terps in 2000.
Statistical Matchup
| North Carolina | Maryland | |||
| 13 | Games Played | 13 | ||
| 21/1.62 | Goals Scored/Avg. | 37/2.85 | ||
| 3/0.22 | Goals Against/Avg. | 9/0.68 | ||
| .135 | Shot Percentage | .173 | ||
| 73-156 | Shots on Goal-Shots | 95-214 | ||
| 12.0 | Shots Per Game | 16.5 | ||
| 17 | Assists | 35 | ||
| 60 | Corner Kicks | 78 | ||
| 2-2 | Penalties | 2-2 | ||
| 16 | Yellow Cards | 15 | ||
| 1 | Red Cards | 0 | ||
| 134 | Fouls | 137 |
Road Warriors In ACC Play
• Carolina will be looking for its sixth straight ACC road win on Friday and third straight in 2012.
• The Tar Heels dropped a 1-0 decision at Virginia Tech to open the 2011 ACC season before rattling off wins at Wake Forest, Virginia and Boston College.
• Carolina forced overtime before finding the winning goal early in the extra session at Duke on Sept. 28 before a dominant 2-0 win at Clemson on Oct. 5.
• Since the start of the 2009 season, the Tar Heels are 10-2-2 in ACC road contests.
Goals Hard To Come By
• Carolina enters Friday's match with the lowest goals against average in the country and currently the second-lowest in a single season in NCAA history.
• The Tar Heels have surrendered just three goals all season, posting 10 shutouts and a 0.22 goals against average.
• Creighton set the lowest mark in NCAA history a year ago as the Bluejays surrendered five goals for a 0.20 goals against average.
• Friday's match will see the country's best defense looking to lock down the country's best offense in Maryland.
• The Terps are averaging 2.85 goals per game and entered the week tied with Cornell for the highest mark in the NCAA.
• The Tar Heel defense will have two of its top players back on Friday as sophomores Mikey Lopez and Boyd Okwuonu are set to return from their recent trip to Marbella, Spain with the U.S. U-20 MNT.
Goodwin Cleaning Up
• Carolina has shut the door on 10 shutouts to begin the year and in the process senior goalkeeper Scott Goodwin became UNC's all-time leader in career shutouts with his 29th against Virginia (Sept. 14).
• Goodwin has recorded 34 shutouts in his time between the pipes and is just the 16th goalkeeper in NCAA history to record 30 shutouts in a career.
• With the 0.22 GAA through this year, Goodwin has lowered his career GAA to 0.57 and is now the UNC career leader.
• The 0.57 career goals against average currently ranks tied for the 12th lowest mark in the NCAA history.
• Goodwin has posted four straight shutouts and has been a part of five different stretches over the last three years that UNC posted three straight clean sheets.
300-Minute Shutout Streaks By Goodwin
436:24 - Sept. 13-30, 2011
408:44 - Sept. 11-28, 2012
393:11 - Sept. 28 - present
390:00 - Dec. 9, 2011-Sept. 2, 2012
313:08 - Oct. 28 - Nov. 13, 2011
ACC Leaders
• Carolina became just the second team in ACC history to pull off the treble last year when it won the National Championship, the ACC regular season title and ACC Tournament crown in a single year.
• The ACC regular season title was the third straight for the Tar Heels after claiming the title in 2010 and 2011, while sharing the honor with Wake Forest in 2009.
• Carolina is looking to join Virginia as the only schools in the ACC to win or share four straight ACC regular season titles.
• The Tar Heels are unbeaten in their last 12 regular season conference matches and have not suffered a loss against a league opponent since Sept. 10, 2011, a span of 15 matches.
• The 15-match ACC unbeaten streak is the longest in school history, surpassing a 13-match unbeaten string from Oct. 24, 2009 to Nov. 14, 2010.
• Carolina is currently second in the ACC with 13 points through five matches, two points behind Maryland (15, through five matches).
• The winner of Friday's match will be in the driver's seat for the top overall spot in the ACC regular season standings.
Lovejoy's Big Return
• Junior forward Rob Lovejoy made his first appearance of the 2012 season on Saturday and made an immediate impact by becoming the first Tar Heel since Alex Dixon in 2009 to record a hat trick.
• Lovejoy scored seven goals and distributed five assists during UNC's championship run a year ago.
• For his efforts, the Greensboro, N.C., native was named the ACC Player of the Week, College Soccer News National Player of the Week and earned Top Drawer Soccer honors.
Getting That First One
• Carolina has a tendency to control the pace of play in its matches especially when the Tar Heels are able to take a lead.
• Since Sept. 28, 2010 the Tar Heels have won 35 straight games when scoring the first goal of the match.
• UNC is 39-1 when scoring the game's first goal the last three years.
• The Tar Heels were 14-1-0 in 2010, 15-0-0 in 2011 and have won 10 matches when scoring first this season.
Taking To The Road
• Carolina dropped its road opener back on Sept. 11 in a 1-0 defeat at James Madison and will be looking to replicate last season's road success Friday after winning two straight.
• The Tar Heels lost at Virginia Tech in the first road game of the year before winning three straight matches and finishing with a 5-1 record after the loss in 2011.
• Carolina has posted an 11-3-1 mark in its last 15 road games dating back to the 2010 season.
The Defense Is Stingy Once Again
• The Tar Heels allowed only 18 goals in 26 matches a year ago as they posted a 0.69 goals against average for the year.
• The backline lost a MLS SuperDraft First Round pick in Matt Hedges but freshman Jonathan Campbell has filled in nicely in the early going.
• Carolina has allowed only three goals through the first 13 matches for a 0.22 goals against average.
• Boston University snapped a shutout streak of 390 minutes when it pulled a goal back late in the match. The Tar Heels had not allowed a goal since a second half effort in the NCAA Semifinal draw against UCLA.
• The goal by the Terriers was the only goal scored during the run of play against the Tar Heels in 2012 before Duke provided one Sept. 28. James Madison converted a penalty for the other goal.
• The 0.22 goals against average currently leads the country.
Bouncing Back After A Loss
• Carolina suffered its first loss since Oct. 18, 2011 when James Madison converted a penalty late in the first half en route to a 1-0 win.
• After a 1-0 overtime loss at Virginia Tech in 2011, the Tar Heels went 8-0-1 before suffering their next defeat and followed up their loss at Davidson by going 14-0-2.
• The Tar Heels battled to a scoreless draw against Wake Forest before back-to-back 1-0 wins over Virginia and Wofford.
• Carolina has won seven straight and are unbeaten in its last eight matches since the 1-0 loss at James Madison.
Tar Heel Duo Back From U-20 Marbella Cup
• Sophomores Mikey Lopez and Boyd Okwuonu were named to the U.S. U-20 MNT for its trip to Marbella, Spain, Oct. 6-17.
• The duo were part of a 19-member team announced by head coach Tab Ramos Monday afternoon.
• Lopez and Okwuonu have been a part of nearly every U-20 training camp the past year and were members of the U.S. squad at the Milk Cup in Scotland held in late July.
• The U.S. side dropped a 2-1 decision to Canada before closing with a 2-0 win over Scotland and a 3-2 win over Azerbaijan
• The Marbella Cup is one of several competitions before the 2013 U-20 World Cup set for June 21 - July 13, 2013 in Turkey.
