With League Title On The Line, BC Falls To North Carolina

The No. 10 Boston College men's soccer team (12-5-0, 4-4-0 ACC) came into last night's contest in Newton with No. 3 North Carolina (14-2-2, 5-1-2) needing a win for a chance to finish first in the ACC regular season standings. However, due to a sloppy defensive effort and inability to generate much offensive pressure, the maroon and gold came out on the losing end of a 2-0 contest.

The Eagles and Tar Heels began the match with nearly identical play, both lacking a creative spark offensively. The home squad was the first to take any shot attempts, but its efforts were routinely blocked by a solid UNC defense.

Probably the best chance to score for the Eagles came with a series of corner kicks by Kyle Bekker, in the ninth minute. On the third attempt, Bekker's kick was nearly headed in by a diving Ryan Dunn. Launching near post, Dunn tried to head the ball into the net but a Tar Heel defender deflected his shot.

From that point forward, the Tar Heels were in control of the half. The first chance came when Enzo Martinez launched a shot off the cross bar and out of play. The second came when Billy Schuler lined a straight ball in the middle of the box right into the chest of Eagles goalkeeper Justin Luthy.

BC came out feeling rejuvenated to start the second half.  However, the squad was unable to keep its form and committed a number of penalties. The worst came by means of a yellow card for Stefan Carter. The junior was penalized for a handball just outside the box at the 60:12 mark. Just 44 seconds later, Matt Hedges notched the game's first goal on a header from Martinez. Martinez took a free kick from 18 yards out and set Hedges up to deflect it in for the score.

The match was fairly quiet for a large portion of the half, but UNC could not be contained. Just past the 73-minute mark, Schuler took a long pass from midfield and drove down the right side of the field. The forward pushed the ball past defender Patrick Chin and found Luthy out of position. He then shot the 12-yarder to far post, making the game 2-0.

"I thought, to be honest, that they deserved the victory," Kelly said. "I thought they played very well. They're a very good team. We had chances to turn it. I thought we had a chance where one of our guys shot instead of cutting it back. And then there's that silly handball thing, and the guy gets away from the defender. The second goal was a bad goal, too.

"But, overall, I thought on the night they were a better team than us. The two goals were very bad goals, and we could've had one. We didn't get many, but we should've had that one. Not much you can do about it."

Although this should have been playoff-like match up, BC was unable to produce offensively. The Eagles were outshot 11-3 for the game, including 7-1 in the second half.

"We just didn't get a lot done," Kelly said of the offense. "Bekks didn't have one of his best games. He's been a great guy for us. He's been sick. Tonight, we just didn't get a lot going. We just couldn't get in the flow. We were giving the ball away, and it just never went smoothly."