Tar Heels Fall To Cardinals, 1-0

Friday, October 25

Chapel Hill

6 p.m.

North Carolina

7-5-3, 3-4-0

Louisville

8-5-2, 3-3-1

Louisville

UNC

Jeremy Kelly
University of North Carolina Men's Soccer v Notre Dame
UNC Soccer Stadium
Chapel Hill, NC
Friday, September 20, 2019

October 25, 2019 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Overall Stats Box Score

By: T.J. Scholl

Chapel Hill -- On senior night in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (7-5-3, 3-4-0) fell to Louisville (8-5-2, 3-3-1) by the score of 1-0 in a tightly contested match. The Tar Heels were the aggressor from the opening whistle, but it was a goal from Haji Abdikadir in the 35th minute that proved to be the difference in the game.

In the opening minutes of the first half, both teams were wide open looking to jump on the board first. In the 7th minute, Jonathan Jimenez looked to put the Tar Heels on top as he raced past a defender to take the keeper one-on-one. Jimenez found a wide-open Alex Rose in the box, but the the Cardinal defense sprinted back to throw off Rose's shot that resulted in a deflection off the post before it was cleared out of harms way.

After the first 22 minutes, Carolina led the Cardinals 5-1 in shots, but four of those shots were blocked by a stingy Louisville defense.

The Cardinals found their way onto the board in the 35th minute when Abdikadir drove-in his first goal of the season off an assist from Kino Ryosuke. A byproduct of Ryosuke's shot and an Alec Smir deflection, Abdikadir's textbook one-touch volley from the top of the box struck the back of the net. Over the last 10 minutes, both teams traded chances but the Tar Heels entered the halftime break down 1-0.

Juxtaposed to the up-tempo play in the opening half, the second half saw the Cardinals slow down the pace of play in an effort to protect its lead. Carolina's first shot on goal in the game came in the 55th minute when Jimenez worked his way by Louisville's defenders and blasted a shot in which the keeper made a great save to keep Louisville ahead, 1-0.

The Tar Heels thought they had found the game tying goal when Raul Aguilera led an offensive attack in the 84th minute. Aguilera received the ball at the top of the box off of a deflection and took a chance at goal. The ball rocketed towards the top right corner of the crossbar and bounced out of play as Aguilera put his hands on his head in disbelief.

With time running out in the final minute of play, Mauricio Pineda nearly pulled out a magical moment on senior night when he found an opening at the top of the box. Poised, Pineda took a strike at goal in the closing seconds, but Louisville's keeper, Jake Gelnovatch, made an acrobatic save to secure the Cardinals' victory.

The team will be back in action on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in final home game of the regular season against the Appalachian State Mountaineers at 7 p.m.