University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Set For Kirk Urso Memorial Match
February 22, 2013 | Men's Soccer
By: Megan Walsh, GoHeels.com
North Carolina will honor former teammate Kirk Urso on Sunday and play the Columbus Crew, the Major League Soccer team Urso was playing for when he died from a genetic heart condition in August.
The game will be held at 1 p.m. in Browns Summit, N.C., at Macpherson Stadium, home of the Carolina Dynamo, a PDL team for which Urso also played. Proceeds from the spring game will benefit the Kirk Urso Memorial Fund, which supports youth heart health research.
Playing the Crew will be both a trying physical and emotional match for the Tar Heels, who aim to honor Urso's memory on the field against the MLS team that finished 15-12-7 in 2012.
"The best way we can represent this game and represent Kirk is to play well," head coach Carlos Somoano said. "We want to go in there and perform extremely hard and compete extremely hard and perform extremely well. We're going to go in there and try to play to the best of our abilities."
Although the timing of the spring match is earlier than usual, UNC looks forward to playing a top-caliber American soccer club - especially after an emotional year following the loss of Urso.
"It's been very draining emotionally for us just the fact that we lost Kirk and we can't change that," Somoano said. "We just have to learn to live with it. It's just something that I don't know if you'll ever really overcome. We feel privileged that we're able to do this in his memory."
Having the chance to honor their former leader and play an MLS team at the same time is an ideal scenario for the team, as well. Midfielder Alex Walters said Urso would have wanted UNC to focus on playing their game and showing great leadership on and off the field.
"We all come out here competing and practice, waiting for that opportunity to play a great team," Walter said. "Playing Columbus is going to be a tough challenge, but we're all up to it and we're all prepared. Coach has got us in a good formation and he's been keeping up with us, so we're going to be really prepared come Sunday."
And thanks to Walters and the rest of Urso's former teammates sharing his story, even players who never knew Urso are excited to play in his memory against another one of his former teams.
Greensboro, N.C., native and freshman defender Jonathan Campbell is looking forward to playing in front of family and friends in his hometown but is also excited about the upcoming opportunity against the Crew.
"We're part of the family here, and he was part of the family," Campbell said. "We're doing it for one of our family members and trying to help the fundraiser and prevent this from happening again."
"I came in and heard about his death right after, so I was here for the whole process. I learned a lot about him and am really sorry that I missed him. I wish I could have gotten to know him because he sounds like a great guy."
