The 2024 North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2024 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 78th season of the university fielding a program. The Tar Heels were led by fourteenth-year head coach Carlos Somoano and played their home games at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The Tar Heels began the season ranked number six, and defeated in their first game of the season. The followed that with a 0–0 draw against . They fell to number seventeen in the rankings before winning two games to move back up to twelfth. A draw against saw the team rise back up to eleventh. They won their rivalry match against Duke to move up to sixth. A defeat of in-state foe and eighteenth ranked NC State saw them rise to third. While ranked third the Tar Heels went 1–1–1, defeating California, drawing , and losing to twenty-fourth ranked Clemson. They fell to number seven, where they spent four games. They defeated and , drew Notre Dame, and lost to fourth ranked Pittsburgh to fall to number eleven. They defeated number seven Stanford to move back to eighth. They rounded out the regular season with a 0–1 loss to Boston College. They began the postseason at fourteenth in the rankings.
The Tar Heels finished the regular season 9–3–4 overall and 4–3–1 in ACC play to finish in sixth place. As the sixth overall seed in the ACC Tournament, they hosted eleventh seed California, in a regular season re-match, in the first round. California took revenge for the Tar Heels' regular season victory, and eliminated them from tournament contention with a 2–1 victory. North Carolina received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and were an unseeded team. They hosted in the first round, and were eliminated in a penalty shoot-out to end their season. They finished the season with a 9–4–5 record.
Background
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 beat 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 in the first round, and advanced in another penalty shoot-out over fourteenth seed in the third round. They were unable to advance further, as they lost to in the quarterfinals to end their season.
Player movement
Departures Departures 2 DF 6'2" 175 Königstein, Germany Graduated 4 DF 6'0" 175 Ålesund, Norway Graduated 11 MF/FW 6'0" 172 Vannes, France Graduated 13 FW 5'8" 148 Madrid, Spain Graduated 19 DF/MF 5'9" 165 Valley Stream, New York Graduated 20 MF/FW 5'9" 157 Portor, Ghana Graduated 24 GK 6'3" 195 Encinitas, California Graduated 26 DF 6'0" 170 Apex, North Carolina Signed with Atlanta United FC 29 MF 5'9" 158 Bronx, New York Graduated 39 MF 6'1" 175 Tampa, Florida — 42 FW 6'2" 185 Birmingham, Alabama —
Incoming transfers Incoming transfers 4 DF 6'1" 175 Tokyo, Japan CSU Bakersfield 5 MF 5'9" 145 Annandale, New Jersey Rutgers 11 FW 6'1" 170 Cary, North Carolina NC State
Recruiting class Name Nat. Hometown Club TDS Rating Pleasant Hill, Oregon Portland Timbers Academy Slagelse, Denmark Næstved IF N/A Tampa, Florida Tampa Bay Rowdies Glassboro, New Jersey Berkshire School Aarhus, Denmark AGF N/A Cary, North Carolina North Carolina FC Saint Louis, Missouri Saint Louis SC Geneva, Switzerland Servette FC N/A Clemmons, North Carolina Charlotte FC San José, Costa Rica Blue Valley School N/A The Colony, Texas Dallas Texans Academy Concord, North Carolina West Cabarrus Oak Ridge, North Carolina Northwest Guilford N/A
Squad
Roster
Team management Athletic director Bubba Cunningham Head coach Carlos Somoano Assistant coach Grant Porter Assistant coach Jeff Negalha Assistant coach Michael Harrington Director of operations Marco Genee
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Schedule
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!colspan=6 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=6 style=""| Regular season
!colspan=6 style=""| ACC Tournament
!colspan=6 style=""| NCAA Tournament
Awards and honors
Riley Thomas Pre-Season All-ACC Team August 14 Martin Vician ACC Defensive Player of the Week – Week 4 September 16 Riley Thomas All-ACC First Team November 13 Martin Vician All-ACC Second Team Sam Williams All-ACC Third Team Tate Johnson All-Freshman Team
2025 MLS Super Draft
Tate Johnson Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1 15 DF Charlie Harper Colorado Rapids 2 38 DF Riley Thomas Austin FC 2 42 DF
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Rankings
References