No. 21 Men’s Soccer Draws With No. 4 Wake Forest Friday Night

Friday, September 12

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7 PM

North Carolina

3-1-2, 0-0-2

Wake Forest

4-0-2, 0-0-1

Wake Forest

North Carolina

Photo by: DALTON T. WAINSCOTT

No. 21 Men’s Soccer Draws With No. 4 Wake Forest Friday Night

September 12, 2025 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 21 University of North Carolina men's soccer secured a hard-earned draw against No. 4 Wake Forest at Dorrance Field on Friday night. Both teams were able to find the back of the net once over the course of 90 minutes.

The Tar Heels improved to (3-1-2, 0-0-2 ACC), while the Deacons improved to 4-0-2 (0-0-1 ACC).

How It Happened

A defensive block by Dylan Kropp denied a shot on goal in the 2'.
A nice combination between Nacho Abeal and Bertil Rygaard Hansen led to a shot on goal in the 11'.
Wake opened the scoring in the 21' as Jose Perez found the net after an initial save by Andrew Cordes, but the ball trickled in to the goal.
Wake's Joel Torbic was shown yellow in the 31'.
In the 37', UNC's Nacho Abeal had a powerful strike blocked by Wake's Jonah Mednard, and Ryan Dugan's follow-up shot was saved directly after.
A long run by UNC's Immanuel Mathe down the field in the 38' led to a foul and yellow card for Wake's Mason Sullivan.
In the 45', a battle between Nacho Abeal and Wake's Travis Smith Jr. ended with a header from Callum Frogson that went wide — the last play of the first half.
UNC came out firing to start the second half as Bertil Rygaard Hansen forced a big save from Wake's Jonah Mednard in the 47'.
In the 50', Gabriel Bracken Serra connected with Luca Nikolai, whose shot on goal was denied by a diving save from Mednard.
In the 62', Luca Nikolai slipped a nutmeg past Wake's Tate Lorentz, setting up Nacho Abeal for a dangerous shot, but Wake's Jonah Mednard made a diving save to keep it out.
Nacho Abeal took a corner short to Luca Nikolai and Jack Sandmeyer delivered a headed equalizer in the 66'.
Wake earned a free kick just outside the box in the 68', but Andrew Cordes came up with the save.
Wake's Cristian Escribano got a shot away, but Jack Sandmeyer was well positioned to head it clear of the box in the 74'.

Inside the Box Score

The goal was Jack Sandmeyer's first as a Tar Heel and third of his career.
Luca Nikolai and Nacho Abeal both tallied their eighth career assist on the night. Abeal leads the team with three assists on the season and Nikolai picked up his second assist.
UNC outshot Wake Forest 20-9 and 7-5 in shots on goal.
Andrew Cordes made four saves on the night.
Wake Forest held the edge in corners at 6-5.

Tar Heel Tidbits

This was the 51st match-up between Carolin and Wake Forest with UNC holding a 24-16-11 advantage.

Up Next
North Carolina welcomes Memphis to Dorrance Field on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. That match will air on ACCNX. The two sides have only met once previously with UNC beating the Tigers in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Stay up to date with UNC men's soccer by following the Tar Heels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.