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.
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
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.
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 Chicago, IL FC United (IL) Bronx, NY Manhattan SC Hawthorn Woods, IL Taft School Minneapolis, MN Washburn Windsor, CT Black Rock FC Oak Ridge, NC North Carolina Fusion Valley Stream, NY F.A Euro Atlanta, GA United Futbol Academy (GA)
Squad
Roster
Updated December 10, 2020
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
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Schedule
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!colspan=6 style=""| Fall Exhibition
!colspan=6 style=""| Fall Regular season
!colspan=6 style=""| ACC Tournament
!colspan=6 style=""| Spring Exhibition
!colspan=6 style=""| Spring Regular Season
!colspan=6 style=""| NCAA Tournament
Awards and honors
Alec Smir ACC Defensive Player of the Week October 5, 2020 Fillipo Zattarin Co-ACC Defensive Player of the Week October 12, 2020 Giovanni Montesdeoca ACC Offensive Player of the Week March 9, 2021 ACC Offensive Player of the Week March 15, 2021 Alec Smir All ACC Second-Team April 14, 2021 Giovanni Montesdeoca
2021 MLS Super Draft
Matt Constant Sporting Kansas City 2 50 DF Mark Salas FC Dallas 3 76 DF Giovanni Montesdeoca FC Dallas 3 79 FW
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Rankings
Fall 2020
+ Ranking movementLegend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. Poll Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Final United Soccer 3 5 5 4 3 4
Spring 2021
+ Ranking movementLegend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. PollPre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Final United Soccer None Released RV 15 16 15 18 15 16 None Released 4 TopDrawer Soccer 14 13 13 14 RV 16 8 4
References