University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Tar Heels Tie No. 1 Wake Forest, 2-2
October 26, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 26, 2002
Chapel Hill, N.C. - North Carolina and No. 1-ranked Wake Forest played 110 minutes of soccer on Saturday night at Fetzer Field, emerging at the end of the double-overtime contest with a 2-2 tie. The Tar Heels (10-5-1, 2-2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) failed to hand the Demon Deacons (10-0-4, 3-0-2 ACC) their first ACC loss of 2002, but Carolina did put forth perhaps its best effort on the field this season.
Wake entered the game ranked No. 1 in the nation in the Soccer Times coaches poll, No. 2 in the Soccer America poll and No. 3 in the NSCAA coaches poll. Carolina is unranked in all three polls.
"In terms of playing both halves and against a high-caliber opponent like Wake Forest, that was probably our best game this season," UNC head coach Elmar Bolowich said afterward. "We had to come from behind, and I was impressed with the heart we showed."
Ryan Kneipper and Logan Pause scored Carolina's goals, while Justin Moose and Brian Carroll scored for Wake Forest. Kneipper also had an assist for UNC.
Wake jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Moose scored at the 17:26 mark off an assist from Scott Sealy. Sealy took the initial shot, which was saved by UNC keeper Ford Williams, but the ball trickled right to Moose, who had an easy look at the Carolina net.
The Tar Heels fought back and scored on a beautiful header by Kneipper at the 29:07 mark. Defender Tim Merritt brought the ball up from the back with a pretty run into the Wake defensive third. Merritt passed it to Ray Fumo, who fed Kneipper for an easy goal from point-blank range. The game was tied 1-1 at halftime.
Wake took a 2-1 lead at the 71:34 mark when Carroll took a pass from Ryan Alexander and drilled a beautiful, left-footed shot from 20 yards out at the top of the box.
Less than five minutes later, however, with the Tar Heels needing a goal, Bolowich brought Pause up into the midfield from his normal central defender position. Shortly thereafter, Pause tied the game at 2-2, taking passes from Kneipper and David Testo and scoring from 12 yards out in the left half of the Wake keeper's box.
Carolina will return to action on Tuesday night when it visits UNC Wilmington at 7 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Oct. 15 but was rescheduled due to heavy rain. Wake Forest will return to action on Tuesday at home against Gardner-Webb.
