2021 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team

2021 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer
2021 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer
NCAA Tournament, Second Round
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. RV
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 22
Record	11–7–2 (4–4–0 ACC)
Head coach	Carlos Somoano (11th season);
Assistant coaches	Grant Porter (11th season); Will Clayton (4th season);
Home stadium	Dorrance Field
	Seasons ← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 75th season of the university fielding a program. The Tar Heels were led by eleventh year head coach Carlos Somoano and played their home games at Dorrance Field.

2021 ACC men's soccer standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Atlantic
No. 1 Clemson +	5	–	3	–	0	16	–	5	–	2
Louisville +	5	–	3	–	0	10	–	7	–	1
No. 17 Wake Forest +	4	–	3	–	1	13	–	7	–	1
Boston College	2	–	4	–	2	6	–	7	–	2
Syracuse	2	–	5	–	1	8	–	8	–	2
NC State	1	–	5	–	2	7	–	8	–	2
Coastal
No. 12 Duke +	5	–	2	–	1	14	–	5	–	1
No. 6 Pittsburgh +	5	–	2	–	1	13	–	5	–	2
No. 4 Notre Dame ‡	4	–	2	–	2	14	–	5	–	5
North Carolina +	4	–	4	–	0	11	–	7	–	2
No. 19 Virginia Tech +	3	–	4	–	1	11	–	5	–	4
Virginia	2	–	5	–	1	6	–	9	–	3

‡ – ACC Tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2021 NCAA tournament As of December 14, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: The ACC

The Tar Heels finished the season 11–7–2 overall and 4–4–0 in ACC play to finish in fourth place in the Coastal Division. As the seventh overall seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated Syracuse in the First Round, before losing to Clemson in the Quarterfinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. As an unseeded team, they defeated Loyola (MD) via penalty shoot-out in the First Round before losing to sixth seeded New Hampshire in the Second Round.

Background

The teams' 2020 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which curtailed the fall season and caused the NCAA Tournament to be played in spring 2021. The ACC was one of the only two conferences in men's soccer to play in the fall of 2020. The ACC also held a mini-season during the spring of 2021.

The Tar Heels finished the fall season 3–2–2 and 3–1–2 in ACC play to finish in second place in the South Division. In the ACC Tournament lost to Notre Dame in the Quarterfinals. They finished the spring season 4–2–1 and 4–1–1 in ACC play, to finish in second place in the Coastal Division. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. As an unseeded team in the tournament, they progressed pass Charlotte in the Second Round via penalties, defeated Stanford in the Third Round, and Wake Forest in the Quarterfinals before losing to Marshall in the Semifinals to end their season.

At the end of the season, three Tar Heels men's soccer players were selected in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft: Matt Constant, Mark Salas and Giovanni Montesdeoca.^[1]

Player movement

Departures

Departures
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Matt Constant	6	DF	6'6"	190	Senior	Dallas, TX	Graduated
Giovanni Montesdeoca	10	FW	5'9"	167	Senior	Dallas, TX	Graduated; Drafted 79th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas
Sam Jones	18	MF	6'2"	190	Senior	Cardiff, Wales	Graduated
Axel Alejandre	26	DF	5'11"		Freshman	Chicago, IL	Transferred to Louisville
Mark Salas	27	DF	5'10"	150	Senior	Dallas, TX	Graduated; Drafted 76th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas
Malik Henry	31	FW	5'6"	130	Freshman	Hamilton, Canada	Transferred to Akron
Roman Knox	38	MF	5'10"	150	Junior	Shawnee, KS	Transferred to SMU
Taff Wadda	39	FW	5'9"	150	Senior	Brackell, England	Graduated

Recruiting class

Name	Nat.	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Nicolas Bellini FW	USA	Lehi, UT	Real Salt Lake	^[2]
Andres Cardenas FW	USA	Doral, FL	Inter Miami CF U18	^[3]
Quinn Closson GK	USA	Fairfield, CT	NYCFC Academy	^[4]
Andrew Czech MF	USA	Elmhurst, IL	Sockers FC	^[5]
Matthew Edwards DF	USA	Atlanta, GA	Atlanta United	^[6]
Luc Granitur FW	USA	Vero Beach, FL	SIMA	^[7]
Tega Ikoba FW	USA	Huntsville, AL	Portland Timbers Academy	^[8]
Daniel Kutsch MF	USA	Birmingham, AL	Alabama FC	^[9]
Zack Naughton MF	USA	Goldsboro, NC	Wilmington Hammerheads FC	^[10]
Lucas Ross FW	USA	Verona, NJ	PDA Academy	N/A^[11]
Matthew Senanou DF	USA	Plainfield, IL	Sockers FC	^[12]
Gui Vivaldini MF	USA	Chattanooga, TN	The McCallie School	^[13]

Squad

Roster

As of January 27, 2022^[14]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
0	GK	USA	Quinn Colsson
1	GK	USA	Alec Smir
2	DF	ITA	Filippo Zattarin
4	DF	ENG	Joe Pickering
5	DF	USA	Julian Hinojosa
6	MF	USA	Andres Cardenas
7	FW	USA	Lucas del Rosario
8	MF	USA	Jameson Charles
9	FW	VEN	Santiago Herrera
10	FW	USA	Tega Ikoba
11	MF	USA	Antonio Lopez
12	GK	USA	J.P. Philpot
13	FW	USA	Key White
14	MF	SWE	Victor Olofsson
15	DF	USA	Riley Thomas
16	FW	USA	Jonathan Jimenez
17	MF	USA	Cameron Fisher
18	DF	USA	Matthew Senanou
19	MF	USA	Jonathan Sinclair
20	MF	USA	Ernest Bawa


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	FW	USA	Alex Rose
22	MF	USA	Milo Garvanian
24	GK	SUI	Marco Saborio-Perez
25	FW	USA	Akeim Clarke
26	DF	USA	Matt Edwards
27	MF	USA	Andrew Czech
28	MF	GER	Tim Schels
29	MF	USA	Yaya Bakayoko
30	GK	USA	Jake Schick
31	FW	USA	Luc Granitur
32	DF	USA	Aldair Sanchez
33	MF	USA	Garrett Kessel
34	MF	USA	Ahmad Al-Qaq
35	MF	USA	Sam Moore
36	MF	BRA	Guy Vivaldini
37	MF	USA	Jacques Bouvery
39	FW	GER	Gerit Wintermeyer
41	MF	USA	Chris Sullivan
42	FW	USA	Daniel Kutsch

Team management

Position	Staff
Athletic Director	Bubba Cunningham
Head coach	Carlos Somoano
Assistant Coach	Grant Porter
Assistant Coach	Will Clayton
Volunteer Assistant Coach	Michael Harrington

Source:^[14]

Schedule

Source:^[15]^[16]

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Exhibition
August 15* 8:30 p.m.	No. 4	No. 1 Marshall	T 1–1	–	Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC
August 20* 7:00 p.m.	No. 4	Liberty	L 0–1	–	Liberty Soccer Stadium Lynchburg, VA
Regular season
August 26* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX	No. 4	Bucknell	W 7–0	1–0–0	Dorrance Field (1,227) Chapel Hill, NC
August 29* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX	No. 4	VCU	T 1–1 ^2OT	1–0–1	Dorrance Field (1,776) Chapel Hill, NC
September 3* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 6	Georgia Southern	W 3–0	2–0–1	Dorrance Field (498) Chapel Hill, NC
September 6* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 6	at Davidson	W 3–0	3–0–1	Alumni Soccer Stadium (2,163) Davidson, NC
September 10 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 4	at No. 15 Pittsburgh	L 0–4	3–1–1 (0–1–0)	Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,115) Pittsburgh, PA
September 14* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 16	Campbell	W 1–0	4–1–1	Dorrance Field (538) Chapel Hill, NC
September 19 7:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 16	No. 12 Duke Rivalry	L 0–3	4–2–1 (0–2–0)	Dorrance Field (2,310) Chapel Hill, NC
September 25 7:00 p.m., ACCRSN		at Virginia	W 2–0	5–2–1 (1–2–0)	Klöckner Stadium (2,046) Charlottesville, VA
September 29* 7:00 p.m., FloSports		at UNC Wilmington	L 1–2	5–3–1	UNCW Soccer Stadium (1,321) Wilmington, NC
October 3 7:00 p.m., ACCN		NC State	W 4–0	6–3–1 (2–2–0)	Dorrance Field (1,433) Chapel Hill, NC
October 8 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Wake Forest	L 1–2	6–4–1 (2–3–0)	Dorrance Field (1,283) Chapel Hill, NC
October 12* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Wofford	W 1–0	7–4–1	Dorrance Field (466) Chapel Hill, NC
October 15 7:00 p.m., ACCN		at Louisville	L 0–2	7–5–1 (2–4–0)	Lynn Stadium (562) Louisville, KY
October 19* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 15 Loyola Marymount	W 2–0	8–5–1	Dorrance Field (471) Chapel Hill, NC
October 24 7:00 p.m., ACCRSN		at No. 13 Virginia Tech	W 2–0	9–5–1 (3–4–0)	Thompson Field (1,115) Blacksburg, VA
October 29 4:30 p.m., ESPNU		No. 11 Notre Dame	W 3–1	10–5–1 (4–4–0)	Dorrance Field (1,481) Chapel Hill, NC
ACC Tournament
November 3 8:00 p.m., ACCN	(7) No. 18	(10) Syracuse First Round	W 1–0 ^2OT	11–5–1	Dorrance Field (544) Chapel Hill, NC
November 7 8:00 p.m., ACCN	(7) No. 18	at (2) No. 9 Clemson Quarterfinals	L 1–2	11–6–1	Riggs Field (2,351) Clemson, SC
NCAA Tournament
November 18 6:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 23	Loyola (MD) First Round	T 0–0 (4–2 PKs)	11–6–2	Dorrance Field (1,347) Chapel Hill, NC
November 21 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 23	(16) No. 6 New Hampshire Second Round	L 1–4	11–7–2	Wildcat Stadium (3,264) Durham, NH
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Alec Smir	Preseason All-ACC Watchlist	August 18	^[17]
Milo Garvanian	ACC Offensive Player of the Week	October 26	^[18]
Alec Smir	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	October 26	^[18]
Alec Smir	All-ACC First Team	November 10	^[19]
Joe Pickering	All-ACC Third Team
Filippo Zattarin	All-ACC Third Team
Ken Bellini	ACC All-Freshman Team
Tega Ikoba	ACC All-Freshman Team

2022 MLS Super Draft

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position
Alec Smir	FC Dallas	3	62	GK

Source:^[20]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer^[21]	4	6	4	16	RV	RV	RV	—	—	RV	18	23	Not released				RV
TopDrawer Soccer ^[22]	4	5	2	4	11	11	17	—	—	23	20	20	22	22	22	22	22

References

↑ "2021 MLS SuperDraft Tracker". MLSSoccer.com. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
↑ "Nicolas Bellini". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Andres Cardenas". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Quinn Closson". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Andrew Czech". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Matthew Edwards". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Luc Granitur". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Tega Ikoba". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Daniel Kutsch". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Zack Naughton". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Lucas Ross". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Matthew Senanou". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Gui Vivaldini". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
1 2 "2021 Men's Soccer Roster". goheels.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
↑ "2021 Men's Soccer Schedule". goheels.com. University of North Carolina. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Tar Heels Release 2021 Men's Soccer Schedule". goheels.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. July 16, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
↑ "Pitt Named Preseason ACC Men's Soccer Favorite". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. August 18, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
↑ "UNC's Garvanian, Smir Earn ACC Men's Soccer Player of the Week Distinction". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
↑ "2021 All-ACC Men's Soccer Team Unveiled". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
↑ "Smir Selected By FC Dallas In MLS SuperDraft". goheels.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
↑ "NCAA DI Men's National Rankings". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. December 14, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
↑ "College Soccer National Rankings". TopDrawer Soccer. December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.

[1] "2021 MLS SuperDraft Tracker". MLSSoccer.com. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.

[2] "Nicolas Bellini". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[3] "Andres Cardenas". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[4] "Quinn Closson". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[5] "Andrew Czech". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[6] "Matthew Edwards". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[7] "Luc Granitur". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[8] "Tega Ikoba". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[9] "Daniel Kutsch". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[10] "Zack Naughton". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[11] "Lucas Ross". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[12] "Matthew Senanou". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[13] "Gui Vivaldini". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[auto-14] 1 2 "2021 Men's Soccer Roster". goheels.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved January 27, 2022.

[15] "2021 Men's Soccer Schedule". goheels.com. University of North Carolina. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[16] "Tar Heels Release 2021 Men's Soccer Schedule". goheels.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. July 16, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

[17] "Pitt Named Preseason ACC Men's Soccer Favorite". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. August 18, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.

[18] "UNC's Garvanian, Smir Earn ACC Men's Soccer Player of the Week Distinction". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.

[19] "2021 All-ACC Men's Soccer Team Unveiled". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.

[20] "Smir Selected By FC Dallas In MLS SuperDraft". goheels.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2022.

[21] "NCAA DI Men's National Rankings". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. December 14, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021.

[22] "College Soccer National Rankings". TopDrawer Soccer. December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.

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