Men's Soccer Championship
November 14, 2002 | Men's Soccer
2001 Men's Soccer Championship Team
The 2001 North Carolina Tar Heels notched the men's first national title in the programs first ever appearance in a national title game. After a rousing late game comeback to reach the finals, the Tar Heels faced and defeated five-time champion Indiana, who entered the tournament having given up just six goals all season in addition to being the team that had knocked UNC out in the quarterfinals the year before.
The Tar Heels used an early goal 12 minutes in off a header by junior Ryan Kneipper to set the tone for the game and establish an early 1-0 lead. Kneipper beat an Indiana defender and goalkeeper Colin Rogers to a long cross from Matt Crawford and headed a shot from six yards out just inside the right post.
The Tar Heels then turned to their defense, led by senior captains Danny Jackson and Chris Leitch, senior goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey, and sophomore David Stokes, who was assigned to Indiana all-everything player Pat Noonan for most of the game. Indiana put pressure on the Heels, but could not find a way to even the score against the stalwart Carolina defense.
At the 75 minute mark freshman Marcus Storey was fouled in the box, leading to a penalty kick by Jackson into the top left of the net, giving Carolina a 2-0 lead. The score would hold up as Carolina claimed its first ever national title.
Carolina's chances of even reaching the finals looked bleak with less than ten minutes on the clock in their NCAA semifinal versus Stanford. Carolina trailed 2-0 at the time, when forward David Testo bent a left-footed shot from 25 yards out just inside the far post to breathe life back into the Tar Heel attack. Less than two minutes later the Tar Heels found the back of the net again, as Matt Crawford knocked in a rebound to tie the score at two with around eight minutes remaining.
The two teams would go at it for the final eight minutes of regulation and through four overtime periods until Carolina finally broke the deadlock when Mike Gell took a long pass from UNC keeper Michael Ueltschey and chipped a shot over onrushing goalkeeper Andrew Terris in the 136th minute. The goal gave Carolina the 3-2 victory and a place in the title game.
Drama was no stranger to the Heels in the 2001 NCAA tournament. Carolina needed and received overtime goals to defeat both American and Farleigh Dickinson along their march to the championship. For the season Carolina finished with 22 wins against only four defeats.
