No. 5 Men's Soccer Ready For Georgia Southern, Davidson

Friday, September 3

Chapel Hill

7 PM

North Carolina

Georgia Southern

Mark Winhoffer

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

September 1, 2021 | Men's Soccer

UNC Notes Georgia Southern Notes Watch Friday Watch Monday

Matchup: North Carolina (1-0-1) vs. Georgia Southern (1-1)
Rankings: UNC No. 6/5; Georgia Southern -/- (United Soccer Coaches/Top Drawer Soccer)
Date: Friday September 3, 2021
Site: Chapel Hill (Dorrance Field)
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: ACC Network Extra (Watch)

Matchup: North Carolina at Davidson
Rankings: UNC No. 6/5; Davidson -/22 (United Soccer Coaches/Top Drawer Soccer)
Date: Monday, Sept. 6, 2021
Site: Davidson, N.C. (Alumni Stadium)
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN+ (Watch)

Tar Heel Tidbits
• North Carolina will play the second week of the 2021 season with a pair of games over Labor Day weekend. Carolina will host Georgia Southern on Friday at 7 p.m. before heading south to visit Davidson on Monday night in its first road contest of the year.
• Carolina started the season with a pair of home outings at Dorrance Field last weekend, trouncing Bucknell, 7-0, and tying VCU, 1-1.
• ACC Network Extra will stream Friday's home game against Georgia Southern, while ESPN+ will stream Monday night's game at Davidson.
• ACCNX is a streaming-only viewing option available via the ESPN app that broadcasts sporting events not available on ESPN's linear television networks. ACCNX access is included if your •cable, satellite or streaming service provider carries ACC Network. Fans need to use their account with their cable, satellite or streaming provider to log in at the WatchESPN website or download the ESPN app for their mobile or streaming device.
• Carolina is 3-0-0 all-time against Georgia Southern and 25-5-3 all-time against Davidson.
• UNC is 1-0-1 this season and has outshot its opponents, 74-6. The Tar Heels have a scoring margin of +7 (8-1) after two games.

In the National Polls
• Carolina is ranked No. 6 nationally in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll and is No. 5 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll.
• Carolina began the season ranked No. 4 in both polls before beating Bucknell and tying VCU last weekend.

Opening Weekend Recap
• Carolina opened the 2021 regular season with two home games: a 7-0 win over Bucknell (Aug. 26) and a 1-1 tie with VCU (Aug. 29).
• UNC started the season by breezing to a 7-0 win over Bucknell, posting its highest-scoring game in five years.
• UNC scored three goals in the opening 20 minutes and led, 5-0, at halftime. Carolina scored more goals in the first half than it did in any game all season in 2020 (three on two occasions).
• The seven-goal output overall was UNC's highest single-game figure since beating UNC Asheville, 7-0, on Oct. 11, 2016.
• Graduate transfer Chris Sullivan scored twice in his first game as a Tar Heel, while Cameron Fisher and Jonathan Jimenez each tallied a goal and an assist.
• On Sunday, Carolina got a second-half goal from Ernest Bawa and tied Virginia Commonwealth, 1-1.
• UNC out-shot VCU, 50-4, and took 17 corner kicks to the Rams' one, but VCU keeper Mario Sequeira made 13 saves on the night.
• Carolina dominated most of the first half, out-shooting the Rams by a 19-4 margin in the opening 45 minutes, only to see VCU take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Damian Gallegos at the 40:45 mark. Six of UNC's first-half shots were on-goal, but Sequeira made six saves before the break.
• With the shot margin standing at 37-4, UNC finally connected when Bawa tied the score at 1-all with 7:29 remaining in the second half, scoring from the right of the box into the lower left corner of the net.

Preseason Honors for Smir
• Goalkeeper Alec Smir was named to Top Drawer Soccer's Preseason Best XI Third Team for the 2021 season.
• Smir also picked up third-team preseason All-America honors from College Soccer News.
•Smir, who earned second-team All-ACC honors in 2020 after leading the conference in shutouts with 10,

Tar Heels Picked 2nd In ACC Coastal Division
• The Atlantic Coast Conference released its 2021 preseason men's soccer poll, and the league's coaches have picked UNC to finish second in the Coastal Division.
• Tar Heel graduate student goalkeeper Alec Smir also grabbed a spot on the ACC's 2021 Preseason Watch List.
• The ACC's coaches predicted Pitt to win both the Coastal Division and the overall championship. The Panthers picked up nine first-place votes for the divisional title and 64 overall points to UNC's three votes and 58 points. Virginia Tech was third with 40 points.
• Clemson was picked to finish first in the Atlantic Division, edging second-place Wake Forest. The Tigers finished second behind PItt with three votes as the overall champion, while Carolina was third with two.

Preseason Scrimmages
• The Tar Heels played a pair of exhibition scrimmages prior to the 2021 regular season, one at home and one away.
• Carolina tied defending NCAA champion Marshall, 1-1, in a scrimmage on August 15 at a wet Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill. The game was a rematch of two teams that met in the NCAA College Cup semifinals a season earlier. The Thundering Herd edged UNC in that match, 1-0, and went on to win the national championship two days later.After a scoreless first half, Marshall took a 1-0 lead in the 58th minute on its first shot attempt of the game. Pedro Dolabella scored from 25 yards out, driving a shot over the head of Tar Heel keeper Alec Smir to make it 1-0. Carolina tied it 12 minutes later with just over 21 minutes remaining when Ernest Bawa scored from the right side to tie the score at 1-1.
• On August 20, UNC dropped a 1-0 decision in a scrimmage at Liberty.

2020 Season Recap
• North Carolina (9-5-4) made its ninth appearance in the men's NCAA College Cup in 2020, making an unexpected run to the national semifinals as an unseeded, at-large bid.
• Carolina made its seventh trip to the College Cup in the last 13 seasons.
• Along the way to the College Cup, the 16th-ranked Tar Heels advanced past No. 14 Charlotte on penalty kicks and beat both No. 5 seed Stanford and No. 4 Wake Forest.
• Tenth-ranked and eventual NCAA champion Marshall edged the Tar Heels, 1-0, in the national semifinals.
• UNC went 9-5-4 overall, including a 7-2-3 combined mark in ACC play.
• UNC went 5-2-2 against teams ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll, including 3-0 against top-five teams (wins over Pittsburgh, Stanford and Wake Forest).

Carlos Somoano
• Eleventh-year UNC head coach Carlos Somoano entered the 2021 season ranked fourth in the nation in winning percentage among active Division I head coaches.
• Somoano has a 138-42-31 career record, good for a program-best .727 winning percentage.
• Somoano reached the summit of collegiate soccer when he led the Tar Heels to the 2011 NCAA title, becoming just the second rookie head coach in NCAA history to win a national championship. He returned to the College Cup with his Tar Heel squad in 2016 and 2017, marking the third appearance in the sports ultimate destination under his leadership.
• Somoano has guided nine of his 10 squads to NCAA postseason play. Six of those teams reached at least the NCAA quarterfinals, and four reached the College Cup.