2020 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team

The 2020 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 74th season of the university fielding a program. The Tar Heels were led by tenth year head coach Carlos Somoano and played their home games at Dorrance Field.

2020 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer
NCAA Tournament, Semifinal
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 4
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 4
Record	9–5–4 (7–2–3 ACC)
Head coach	Carlos Somoano (10th season)
Assistant coaches	Grant Porter (10th season) Will Clayton (3rd season)
Home stadium	Dorrance Field
Seasons ← 2019 2021 →

2020 ACC men's fall soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
North
No. 2 Pittsburgh	4	–	0	–	0			7	–	1	–	0
No. 4 Virginia Tech	3	–	1	–	2			3	–	2	–	2
Notre Dame	3	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Virginia	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	4	–	1
Louisville	1	–	4	–	1			1	–	6	–	1
Syracuse	0	–	3	–	2			0	–	3	–	2
South
No. 3 Wake Forest	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
North Carolina	3	–	1	–	2			3	–	2	–	2
No. 1 Clemson‡	3	–	2	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
Duke	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
NC State	0	–	5	–	1			0	–	6	–	1
Boston College†	0	–	0	–	0			0	–	0	–	0
‡ – 2020 ACC Tournament champion As of March 9, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source:The ACC Note: † Due to COVID-19, Boston College suspended the Fall 2020 men's soccer season; begins play in March.

2020 ACC men's spring soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Atlantic
No. 7 Clemson ‡	4	–	1	–	1			14	–	3	–	3
Louisville	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	8	–	1
No. 6 Wake Forest +	3	–	0	–	2			13	–	3	–	2
NC State	1	–	2	–	3			3	–	8	–	4
Boston College *	1	–	3	–	1			1	–	3	–	1
Syracuse	0	–	3	–	1			2	–	7	–	4
Coastal
No. 3 Pittsburgh +	5	–	1	–	0			16	–	4	–	0
No. 4 North Carolina +	4	–	1	–	1			9	–	5	–	4
Duke	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	10	–	3
Virginia	2	–	4	–	0			7	–	8	–	1
No. 15 Virginia Tech +	2	–	4	–	0			7	–	6	–	4
Notre Dame	1	–	5	–	0			8	–	9	–	0
‡ – 2020 ACC Fall Tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2020 NCAA Tournament As of May 18, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source:The ACC Note: *- Due to COVID-19, Boston College suspended the Fall 2020 men's soccer season; began play in March.

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.

Background

Main article: 2019 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team

The 2019 North Carolina men's soccer team finished the season with a 7–7–4 overall record and a 3–5–0 ACC record. The Tar Heels were seeded seventh–overall in the 2019 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament. The Tar Heels were upset in the first round by the tenth seed Syracuse. The Tar Heels were not invited to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. This marked the first year since 2007 that the Tar Heels were not invited to the NCAA Tournament.

At the end of the season, two Tar Heels men's soccer players wer selected in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft: Jeremy Kelly and Jack Skahan.^[1]

Player movement

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Mauricio Pineda	2	MF	6'1"	175	Senior	Bolingbrook, IL	Graduated
Blake Malone	4	DF	6'0"	165	Freshman	Las Vegas, NV	Signed with Orange County SC
Jack Skahan	8	MF	5'10"	165	Senior	Memphis, TN	Declared for 2020 MLS SuperDraft; selected 27th overall by San Jose Earthquakes
Drew Romig	12	GK	6'1"	186	Senior	Midlothian, VA	Graduated
Lenny Aharon	14	DF	5'8"	169	Freshman	Herzlia, Israel
Sebastian Berhalter	15	FW	5'10"	154	Freshman	Westerville, OH	Signed with Columbus Crew
Martin Salas	19	MF	5'10"	148	Senior	Dallas, TX	Graduated
Alex Moztarzadeh	20	MF	5'9"	153	Senior	Miami, FL	Graduated
Jake Walker	23	DF	6'0"	160	Sophomore	Davie, FL
Liam Williams	25	DF	6'0"	178	Junior	Taupō
Jelani Pieters	26	FW	6'0"	165	Senior	Oswego, IL	Graduated
Raul Aguilera	28	MF	5'9"	155	Junior	Sanford, FL	Signed with Orlando City B
Jeremy Kelly	29	MF	5'10"	155	Senior	Chapel Hill, NC	Declared for 2020 MLS SuperDraft; selected 9th overall by Montreal Impact

Recruiting class

Name	Nat.	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Axel Alejandre DF	USA	Chicago, IL	FC United (IL)	[2]
Yaya Bakayoko FW	USA	Bronx, NY	Manhattan SC	[3]
Sammed Bawa MF	USA	Hawthorn Woods, IL	Taft School	[4]
Jameson Charles MF	USA	Minneapolis, MN	Washburn	[5]
Akeim Clarke MF	USA	Windsor, CT	Black Rock FC	[6]
Garrett Kessel MF	USA	Oak Ridge, NC	North Carolina Fusion	[7]
Jonathan Sinclair MF	USA	Valley Stream, NY	F.A Euro	[8]
Riley Thomas DF	USA	Atlanta, GA	United Futbol Academy (GA)	[9]

Squad

Roster

Updated December 10, 2020^[10]

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 1 GK  USA Alec Smir 2 MF  ITA Filippo Zattarin 4 DF  ENG Joe Pickering 5 DF  USA Julian Hinojosa 6 DF  USA Matt Constant 7 FW  USA Lucas Del Rosario 8 MF  USA Jameson Charles 9 MF  VEN Santiago Herrera 10 FW  USA Giovanni Montesdeoca 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 MF  WAL Sam Jones 19 MF  USA Jonathan Sinclari

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  USA Ernest Bawa 21 FW  USA Alex Rose 22 MF  USA Milo Garvanian 24 GK  SUI Marco Saborio-Perez 25 FW  USA Akeim Clarke 26 FW  USA Axel Alejandre 27 DF  USA Mark Salas 28 MF  GER Tim Schels 29 MF  USA Yaya Bakayoko 30 GK  USA Jake Schick 31 FW  CAN Malik Henry 32 DF  USA Aldair Sanchez 33 MF  USA Garrett Kessel 34 MF  USA Ahmad Al-Qaq 35 MF  USA Sam Moore 37 MF  USA Jacques Bouvery 38 MF  USA Roman Knox 39 FW  ENG Taff Wadda

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
Director of Operations	Tim Kübel

Source:^[10]

Schedule

Source:^[11]

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Fall Exhibition
September 20, 2020* 6:00 p.m.		NC State	W 1–0	–	Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC
Fall Regular season
October 2, 2020 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Duke Rivalry	W 2–0	1–0–0 (1–0–0)	Koskinen Stadium Durham, NC
October 9, 2020 6:00 p.m., ESPNU		No. 3 Clemson	W 1–0	2–0–0 (2–0–0)	Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC
October 18, 2020 6:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 3	at No. 1 Wake Forest Rivalry	L 0–1 OT	2–1–0 (2–1–0)	Spry Stadium Winston–Salem, NC
October 27, 2020 7:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 5	at No. 3 Clemson	T 3–3 2OT	2–1–1 (2–1–1)	Riggs Field (1,000) Clemson, SC
November 1, 2020 1:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 5	NC State	T 0–0 2OT	2–1–2 (2–1–2)	Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC
November 6, 2020 8:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 4	Duke Rivalry	W 2–0	3–1–2 (3–1–2)	Dorrance Field (0) Chapel Hill, NC
ACC Tournament
November 15, 2020 2:00 p.m., ACCN	(S2) No. 3	(N3) Notre Dame Quarterfinals	L 0–1 OT	3–2–2	Dorrance Field (0) Chapel Hill, NC
Spring Exhibition
February 20, 2021* 4:00 p.m.		vs. Clemson	W 1–0	–	CSA OrthoCarolina Sportsplex (0) Pineville, NC
Spring Regular Season
February 25, 2021* 6:00 p.m., ACCNX		Liberty	L 0–1	3–3–2	Dorrance Field (0) Chapel Hill, NC
March 5, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 4 Pittsburgh	W 3–0	4–3–2 (4–1–2)	Dorrance Field (351) Chapel Hill, NC
March 13, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 24 Virginia	W 2–0	5–3–2 (5–1–2)	Dorrance Field (580) Chapel Hill, NC
March 20, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 15	at Syracuse	T 0–0 2OT	5–3–3 (5–1–3)	SU Soccer Stadium (0) Syracuse, NY
March 27, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 16	at Notre Dame	W 2–1 OT	6–3–3 (6–1–3)	Alumni Stadium (143) Notre Dame, IN
April 2, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 15	Virginia Tech	L 0–1	6–4–3 (6–2–3)	Dorrance Field (423) Chapel Hill, NC
April 11, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 18	at Duke Rivalry	W 1–0	7–4–3 (7–2–3)	Koskinen Stadium (0) Durham, NC
NCAA Tournament
May 2, 2021 5:00 p.m., NCAA Livestream	No. 16	No. 14 Charlotte Second Round	T 1–1 (4–1 PKs) 2OT	7–4–4	WakeMed Soccer Park (175) Cary, NC
May 6, 2021 6:00 p.m., NCAA Livestream	No. 16	(4) No. 5 Stanford Third Round	W 1–0	8–4–4	WakeMed Soccer Park (185) Cary, NC
May 10, 2021 5:00 p.m., NCAA Livestream	No. 16	(5) No. 4 Wake Forest Quarterfinals	W 2–1	9–4–4	WakeMed Soccer Park (189) Cary, NC
May 14, 2021 6:00 p.m., ESPNU	No. 16	No. 10 Marshall Semifinals	L 0–1	9–5–4	WakeMed Soccer Park Cary, NC
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Alec Smir	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	October 5, 2020	[12]
Fillipo Zattarin	Co-ACC Defensive Player of the Week	October 12, 2020	[13]
Giovanni Montesdeoca	ACC Offensive Player of the Week	March 9, 2021	[14]
	ACC Offensive Player of the Week	March 15, 2021	[15]
Alec Smir	All ACC Second-Team	April 14, 2021	[16]
Giovanni Montesdeoca

2021 MLS Super Draft

Main article: 2021 MLS SuperDraft

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position
Matt Constant	Sporting Kansas City	2	50	DF
Mark Salas	FC Dallas	3	76	DF
Giovanni Montesdeoca	FC Dallas	3	79	FW

Source:^[17]

Rankings

Main article: 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Fall 2020

Ranking movement
Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes.

Poll	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Final
United Soccer[18]				3	5	5	4	3	4

Spring 2021

Ranking movement
Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes.

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Final
United Soccer[18]	None Released					RV	15	16	15	18	15	16	None Released		4
TopDrawer Soccer [19]	14	13	13	14					RV				16	8	4

References

1. "14 ACC Players Picked on Day 1 of MLS SuperDraft". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
2. "Axel Alejandre". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
3. "Yaya Bakayoko". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
4. "Sammed Bawa". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
5. "Jameson Charles". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
6. "Akeim Clarke". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
7. "Garrett Kessel". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
8. "Jonathan Sinclair". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
9. "Riley Thomas". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
10. "2020 Men's Soccer Roster". goheels.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
11. "2020 Men's Soccer Schedule". goheels.com. University of North Carolina. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
12. "Holcomb, Seye, Smir Earn ACC Men's Soccer Weekly Honors". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. October 5, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
13. "Petkovic, Shutler, Zattarin Earn ACC Men's Soccer Weekly Honors". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. October 12, 2020. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
14. "North Carolina's Montesdeoca, Virginia's Gerbig Earn ACC Men's Soccer Weekly Honors". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
15. "UNC's Montesdeoca, ND's Lynn and Quinton Earn ACC Men's Soccer Weekly Honors". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. March 15, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
16. "2020 All-ACC Men's Soccer Team Announced". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. April 14, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
17. "2021 MLS SuperDraft Tracker". MLSSoccer.com. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
18. "NCAA DI Men's National Rankings". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
19. "College Soccer National Rankings". TopDrawer Soccer. May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.