North Carolina
14-3-3
Providence
15-7-0
Houston Here We Come!
December 3, 2016 | Men's Soccer
North Carolina (14-3-3) reaches the College Cup for the seventh time in program history, and first since winning the national championship in 2011.
The Tar Heels will face either Louisville or Stanford on Friday in Houston at BBVA Compass Stadium on ESPNU.
SEE YA IN HOUSTON! Drew Murphy's first goal as a Tar Heel is a golden one & sends us to the #CollegeCup pic.twitter.com/mHEKZORk1K
— UNC Men's Soccer (@UNCmenssoccer) December 3, 2016
“I'm really proud of these guys for what they were able to do tonight,” said North Carolina head coach Carlos Somoano. “We're going to Houston with high ambitions. We're not going there to celebrate, we're going there to achieve.
“Drew did a great job and he's hung in there all year, to make that happen, I'm very proud of the way we're leaving Fetzer Field tonight.”
Limited to six games with a foot injury, Murphy started the second overtime, and wasted little time in scoring what he later described as, “the best moment of my life.”
Freshman Mauricio Pineda found Murphy on the left flank. The first-year Tar Heel who transferred from UC Santa Barbara this fall, cut hard to his right and delivered a shot with his “off” foot, his right, that deflected off keeper Colin Miller's gloves and into the net for his first goal at UNC, setting off an exuberant celebration.
Murphy added, “It's all kind of a blur, the ball came into me and I'm left-footed so I just closed my eyes and shot.”
James Pyle made two saves in goal for the Tar Heels to record his 12th clean sheet of 2016, and his second in a row in the NCAA post-season. The shutout also extended Carolina's streak of allowing one goal or less in 13 of its last 15 NCAA matches.
Carolina controlled possession for long stretches of the match. In turn, the Tar Heels held a 16-6 edge in shots. Miller, the BIG EAST Co-Goalkeeper of the Year, made five saves - two each on Murphy and Zach Wright - to keep the home team off the scoreboard until the 101:40 mark.
Carolina also limited Julian Gressel, the BIG EAST Player of the Year, to only two shots. He entered the game having scored in all three previous NCAA matches for the Friars, who had their season come to a close with a 15-7 mark.
Somoano also credited the season high crowd of 4,009 in attendance for helping push his guys as the night wore on into extra time.
“That crowd tonight was just spectacular. That's a Carolina night right there. They made it happen. They pushed us on when we were heavy, when our legs weren't moving the way we want them to, the crowd was there pushing us on and driving us on. That's when it doesn't matter who is called on, they feel it.
“Gosh, there's just so many people involved in the success of being able to have people come on and do what they did tonight, it's not easy.”
Friday night was the final soccer game at Fetzer Field until 2018. Renovations to the stadium beginning in 2017 will force the Tar Heels to play off campus before returning to the fabled grounds the following year.
Team Stats
Drew Murphy (1)
Assisted By: Mauricio Pineda
9 blasts it from just outside left box,
101:40
