North Carolina
Georgia Southern
Craven Hat Trick Sends #3 UNC Over GSU
October 29, 2014 | Men's Soccer
North Carolina (12-4) waisted no time in jumping out to a 2-0 lead just over five minutes into the match. A free kick from Omar Holness began the play for the first goal on the night. His cross into the box led to multiple headers that ultimately saw Walker Hume finish from the left side for his fourth goal of the season.
Just over a minute later, Alex Olofson sent a perfect cross that was touched home by a streaking Craven down the center of the goal at the 5:04 mark for a 2-0 lead.
Craven added his second of the night when he cleaned up a deflection for the 3-0 lead. David October caromed a shot off the cross bar that Craven pounced on from eight yards out.
That goal in the 36th minute would end up being the game winner, giving Craven an NCAA-leading seven on the year.
After going into the locker room with a comfortable 3-0 advantage, Craven skillfully finished from 15 yards out to notch the first three-goal match of his collegiate career in the 69th minute. The St. Simons Island, Ga., native has four more goals than any other player in the ACC and is three shy of national leader Neco Brett of Robert Morris who has 14 goals thus far in 2014.
Verneri Valimaa scored his third goal in the last two matches in the 85th minute for a 5-0 Tar Heel lead. That began an explosion of goals by both teams over the next 83 seconds.
Georgia Southern (6-7) broke through with a goal from Adam Abdellaoui just 20 seconds after the goal from Valimaa.
Carolina stormed back the other way and got its sixth of the night off the foot of senior defender C.J. Odenigwe at the 85:40 mark, with assists coming from Zach Wright and Ryan McAnallen.
The Eagles answered 14 seconds later when Abdellaoui scored again to cap the goal-scoring flurry for his third marker of the season.
UNC keeper Brendan Moore extended his scoreless streak to 591 minutes since last conceding back on Oct. 3 against Clemson. He was pulled in favor of Sam Euler in the 75th minute.
Carolina hosts No. 21 Virginia in the regular season finale Saturday at 7 p.m., on ESPN3. The Tar Heels will host a brief ceremony for its seniors before the match.
