UNC Men’s Soccer: Tar Heels fall to UNC Wilmington, 2-1

The UNC men’s soccer team lost a heartbreaker to UNC Wilmington on Wednesday.

North Carolina (No. 11 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll and No. 19 by College Soccer News) fell to unranked UNC Wilmington on Wednesday night by a final score of 2-1 at UNCW Soccer Stadium in Wilmington.

Neither team was able to get the ball in the net throughout the game’s first half, but UNC Wilmington got on the board at the 61:51 mark to take a 1-0 lead over the Tar Heels. North Carolina evened the game up at 1-1 following a Tim Schels score at the 79:58 mark. For Schels, it was his first goal of the season, and second of his career. Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, though, UNCW scored a second and deciding goal less than two minutes later at the 81:41 mark of the game.

After a first half in which both teams took four shots on goal, the Tar Heels had a commanding 7-2 lead over UNCW on second half shots on goal. They simply couldn’t convert a half-dozen of them, as UNCW got three important saves from goalkeeper Gabriel Perrotta, who tallied five for the game. North Carolina also had eight corner kicks to UNCW’s two, while the teams combined for 17 total fouls (UNC 9, UNCW 8). North Carolina’s all-time record against UNCW fell to 13-6-2 all-time.

The Tar Heels have outshot their opponents 173-36 this season, but currently stand at just 5-3-1. They’ll be back on the pitch this weekend for a Sunday night contest against NC State at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the UNC men’s soccer team.