2023 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team

The 2023 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 77th season of the university fielding a program. The Tar Heels were led by thirteenth year head coach Carlos Somoano and played their home games at Dorrance Field.

2023 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer
NCAA Tournament, Quarterfinals
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	11–4–7 (2–3–3 ACC)
Head coach	Carlos Somoano (13th season)
Assistant coaches	Grant Porter (13th season) Michael Harrington (2nd season)
Home stadium	Dorrance Field
Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 ACC men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Atlantic
No. 15 Wake Forest +	4	–	1	–	3			11	–	3	–	5
No. 1 Clemson ‡	4	–	2	–	2			15	–	3	–	5
No. 25 Syracuse +	2	–	1	–	5			9	–	5	–	7
No. 24 Louisville +	2	–	4	–	2			12	–	6	–	3
NC State	1	–	5	–	2			6	–	9	–	3
Boston College	0	–	5	–	3			3	–	9	–	5
Coastal
No. 2 Notre Dame +	6	–	0	–	2			13	–	3	–	6
No. 13 Virginia +	5	–	2	–	1			11	–	4	–	4
No. 20 Duke+	4	–	3	–	1			11	–	4	–	3
No. 6 North Carolina +	2	–	3	–	3			11	–	3	–	7
Pittsburgh +	2	–	3	–	3			6	–	7	–	4
Virginia Tech	2	–	5	–	1			4	–	9	–	4
‡ – ACC tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2023 NCAA tournament As of December 12, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: The ACC

The Tar Heels finished the season 11–4–7 overall and 2–3–3 in ACC play to finish in fourth place in the Coastal Division. As the seventh overall seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated tenth seed Virginia Tech in the First Round, upset second seed Wake Forest in the Quarterfinals, and sixth seed Syracuse to reach the ACC Final. There they faced off against Clemson and fell in a penalty shoot-out. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and were the third overall seed. They defeated Memphis in the First Round, and advanced in another penalty shoot-out over fourteenth seed Hofstra in the Third Round. They were unable to advance further as they lost to Oregon State in the Quarterfinals to end their season.

Background

Main article: 2022 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team

The Tar Heels finished the season 8–6–5 overall and 2–2–4 in ACC play to finish in fourth place in the Coastal Division. As the seventh overall seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated Boston College in the First Round, before losing to eventual champions Syracuse in the Quarterfinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. As an unseeded team, they lost to High Point in the First Round to end their season.

Player movement

Departures

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Benjamin Kabeya	4	MF/DF	5'10"	183	Freshman	Berne, Switzerland	Signed professional contract
Julian Hinojosa	5	DF	5'8"	155	Senior	Dallas, Texas	Graduated
Hilli Goldhar	11	MF	5'9"	150	Graduate Student	Toronto, Canada	Graduated
Key White	13	FW	5'10"	159	Junior	Norfolk, Virginia	Transferred to Old Dominion
Victor Olofsson	14	MF	5'11"	160	Senior	Vaernamo, Sweden	Graduated
James Person	16	DF	6'0"	160	Senior	Walnut Creek, California	Graduated
Cameron Fisher	17	MF	5'11"	160	Senior	Palo Alto, California	Graduated
Matthew Senanou	18	DF	6'4"	208	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois	Transferred to Xavier
Milo Garvanian	22	DF/MF	6'1"	160	Graduate Student	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Graduated; drafted 54th overall in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft
Sebastian Schacht	23	MF	6'0"	175	Graduate Student	Christchurch, New Zealand	Graduated
Marco Saborio-Perez	24	GK	6'2"	190	Graduate Student	Geneva, Switzerland	Graduated
Akeim Clarke	25	FW	6'3"	190	Junior	Windsor, Connecticut	—
Tim Schels	28	MF	5'9"	161	Junior	Erding, Germany	Transferred to FIU
Luc Granitur	31	FW	5'9"	155	Sophomore	Vero Beach, Florida	Transferred to North Florida
Guy Vivaldini	36	MF/FW	6'2"	174	Sophomore	Itupeva, Brazil	Transferred to Xavier
Derek Lippert	37	DF	5'9"	149	Freshman	Mexico City, Mexico	—
Finn Sansom	40	DF/MF	5'11"	183	Freshman	Shrewsbury, England	—
Rohit Thakur	41	FW	5'7"	140	Freshman	Morrisville, North Carolina	—

Incoming Transfers

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Vemund Hole Vik	4	DF	6'0"	175	Graduate Student	Ålesund, Norway	Elon
Martin Vician	9	FW	6'4"	N/A	Graduate Student	Bratislava, Slovakia	Harvard
Quenzi Huerman	11	MF/FW	6'0"	172	Graduate Student	Vannes, France	Seton Hall
David Bercedo	13	FW	5'8"	148	Graduate Student	Madrid, Spain	Quinnipiac
Collin Travasos	24	GK	6'3"	195	Graduate Student	Encinitas, California	California

Recruiting class

Name	Nat.	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Kevin Gorbell DF	USA	Boca Raton, Florida	Inter Miami CF Academy	[1]
Andrew Kitch FW	USA	Medford, New Jersey	JFC Real	[2]
William Lorentz MF	USA	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	North Carolina Fusion	[3]
Daniel Lugo FW	USA	Saint Petersburg, Florida	Tampa Bay United	[4]
John McDowell MF	USA	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	North Carolina FC	[5]
Michael Melilli DF	USA	Palm Harbor, Florida	Tampa Bay United	[6]
Maclovio Swett MF	USA	Denver, Colorado	Colorado Rapids Academy	[7]
Kaitaro Tamashiro FW	USA	Honolulu, Hawaii	IMG Academy	[8]
Gabriel Velasco GK	USA	Raleigh, North Carolina	IMG Academy	[9]

Squad

Roster

As of January 30, 2024^[10]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  USA Quinn Colsson 1 GK  USA Andrew Cordes 2 DF  GER Til Zinnhardt 4 DF  NOR Vemund Hole Vik 6 MF  USA Andres Cardenas 7 MF  USA Sam Williams 8 MF  USA Jameson Charles 10 MF  ARG Juan Caffaro 11 MF  FRA Quenzi Huerman 12 GK  HKG Aristide Gry 13 FW  ESP David Bercedo 14 MF  USA John McDowell 15 DF  USA Riley Thomas 16 MF  USA Maclovio Swett 17 FW  USA Daniel Lugo 18 DF  AUS Charlie Harper 19 MF  USA Jonathan Sinclair 20 MF  GHA Ernest Bawa

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF  USA Parker O'Ferral 22 FW  USA Kai Tamashiro 23 FW  USA Andrew Kitch 24 GK  USA Collin Travasos 26 DF  USA Matt Edwards 27 MF  USA Andrew Czech 28 DF  USA Kevin Gorbell 29 MF  USA Yaya Bakayoko 30 GK  USA Gabe Belasco 31 DF  USA Michael Melilli 32 MF  USA Tate Lorentz 33 DF  USA Riley Berge 34 MF  USA Ahmad Al-Qaq 35 MF  USA Ty Johnson 38 FW  USA Lucas Ross 39 MF  USA Hayden Morgan 42 FW  USA Daniel Kutsch

Team management

Position	Staff
Athletic Director	Bubba Cunningham
Head Coach	Carlos Somoano
Assistant Coach	Grant Porter
Assistant Coach	Michael Harrington

Source:^[10]

Schedule

Source:^[11]

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Exhibition
August 11* 7:00 p.m.		at Campbell	None Reported	–	Eakes Athletics Complex Buies Creek, NC
August 15* 7:30 p.m.		High Point	None Reported	–	Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC
August 18* 7:00 p.m.		James Madison	None Reported	–	Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC
Regular season
August 24* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX		Loyola (MD)	T 1–1	0–0–1	Dorrance Field (3,335) Chapel Hill, NC
August 27* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX		American	Cancelled [12]	—	Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC
September 1* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at East Tennessee State	W 2–1	1–0–1	Summers-Taylor Stadium (1,127) Johnson City, TN
September 4* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at VCU	W 4–1	2–0–1	Sports Backers Stadium (607) Richmond, VA
September 8 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Virginia Tech	T 1–1	2–0–2 (0–0–1)	Thompson Field (2,407) Blacksburg, VA
September 15 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 10 Notre Dame	T 1–1	2–0–3 (0–0–2)	Dorrance Field (4,298) Chapel Hill, NC
September 19* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		UNC Wilmington	W 3–0	3–0–3	Dorrance Field (769) Chapel Hill, NC
September 24 4:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 11 Duke Rivalry	W 2–1	4–0–3 (1–0–2)	Dorrance Field (2,858) Chapel Hill, NC
September 29 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 18	at Pittsburgh	T 0–0	4–0–4 (1–0–3)	Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,010) Pittsburgh, PA
October 3* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 13	Elon	W 2–0	5–0–4	Dorrance Field (814) Chapel Hill, NC
October 6 7:30 p.m., ACCN	No. 13	No. 18 Syracuse	L 0–1	5–1–4 (1–1–3)	Dorrance Field (2,387) Chapel Hill, NC
October 10* 6:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 14	Florida Gulf Coast	W 3–0	6–1–4	Dorrance Field (1,114) Chapel Hill, NC
October 14 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 14	at No. 4 Wake Forest	L 0–1	6–2–4 (1–2–3)	Spry Stadium (2,454) Winston–Salem, NC
October 17* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 11	William & Mary	T 0–0	6–2–5	Dorrance Field (684) Chapel Hill, NC
October 22 5:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 11	Louisville	W 2–0	7–2–5 (2–2–3)	Dorrance Field (3,887) Chapel Hill, NC
October 27 7:30 p.m., ACCN	No. 10т	at No. 14 Virginia	L 0–1	7–3–5 (2–3–3)	Klöckner Stadium (2,478) Charlottesville, VA
ACC Tournament
November 1 6:00 p.m., ACCN	(7) No. 13	(10) Virginia Tech First Round	W 4–1	8–3–5	Dorrance Field (991) Chapel Hill, NC
November 5 4:00 p.m., ACCN	(7) No. 13	at (2) No. 6 Wake Forest Quarterfinals	W 1–0	9–3–5	Spry Stadium (2,958) Winston–Salem, NC
November 8 6:00 p.m., ACCN	(7) No. 7	at (6) No. 18 Syracuse Semifinals	W 3–1	10–3–5	SU Soccer Stadium (1,570) Syracuse, NY
November 12 12:00 p.m., ACCN	(7) No. 7	vs. (4) No. 14 Clemson Final	T 1–1 (3–5 PKs)	10–3–6	WakeMed Soccer Park (2,318) Cary, NC
NCAA Tournament
November 19 5:00 p.m., ESPN+	(3) No. 7	Memphis Second Round	W 2–0	11–3–6	Dorrance Field (1,255) Chapel Hill, NC
November 26 5:00 p.m., ESPN+	(3) No. 7	(14) No. 17 Hofstra Third Round	T 2–2 (5–3 PKs)	11–3–7	Dorrance Field (1,632) Chapel Hill, NC
December 2 5:00 p.m., ESPN+	(3) No. 7	Oregon State Quarterfinals	L 0–1	11–4–7	Dorrance Field (3,127) Chapel Hill, NC
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Vemund Hole Vik	Pre-Season Hermann Trophy Watchlist	August 24	[13]
Sam Williams	Pre-Season All-ACC Team	August 26	[14]
Quenzi Huerman	ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week	September 26	[15]
Andrew Cordes	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	October 24	[16]
Quenzi Huerman	All-ACC First Team	November 8, 2023	[17]
Riley Thomas	All-ACC Second Team
Sam Williams	All-ACC Third Team
Quenzi Huerman	ACC All-Tournament Team	November 12, 2023	[18]
Martin Vician
Til Zinnhardt

Rankings

Main article: 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer[19]	—	—	—	—	—	18	13	14	11	10т	13	7	Not released				6
TopDrawer Soccer[20]	—	—	—	—	—	19	11	12	13	18	22	15	8	6	6	6	6

References

1. "Kevin Gorbell". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
2. "Andrew Kitch". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
3. "William Lorentz". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
4. "Daniel Lugo". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
5. "John McDowell". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
6. "Michael Melilli". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
7. "Maclovio Swett". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
8. "Kaitaro Tamashiro". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
9. "Gabriel Velasco". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
10. "2023 Men's Soccer Roster". goheels.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
11. "2023 Men's Soccer Schedule". goheels.com. University of North Carolina. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
12. "Men's Soccer Versus American Cancelled Due To Weather". goheels.com. North Carolina Athletics. August 27, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
13. "2023 Men's MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List Announced". unitedsoccercoaches.org. United Soccer Coaches. August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
14. "Clemson Selected 2023 Preseason ACC Men's Soccer Favorite". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
15. "ACC Unveils Men's Soccer Player of Week Honors". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
16. "UVa's Annor Gyamfi, UNC's Cordes Earn ACC Men's Soccer Player of Week Honors". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. October 24, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
17. "2023 All-ACC Men's Soccer Team Announced". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
18. "Clemson Wins 2023 ACC Men's Soccer Championship". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. November 12, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
19. "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 NCAA DI Men — National". unitedsoccercoaches.org. United Soccer Coaches. December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
20. "College Soccer National Ranking". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. December 11, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.