NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion (7-3-2, 4-1-0 C-USA) men’s soccer team came to a 1-1 draw against No. 1 UNC (9-1-1, 4-0-0 ACC) on Tuesday night in front of 775 fans at the ODU Soccer Complex. James Ellis Jr. tied up the game for ODU in the 64th minute.
"We found a way to get back into the game. Scored a goal off a set play and I think we were knocking on the door to get the winner," said head coach Alan Dawson.
The match was back and forth through the first 41 minutes of play. In the first few minutes of play, Max Wilschrey took back-to-back shots on goal to put pressure on the UNC defense. In the 42nd minute, the Tar Heels took the lead off a Mauricio Pineda goal to send North Carolina into halftime ahead by one goal.
In the 64th minute, Ellis took to goal in a skirmish of UNC and ODU players to equalize the match for the Monarchs. Ellis now has two goals this season, both coming in the last two games. Neither ODU or UNC scored the remainder of the match.
The Monarchs and UNC went back and forth in the first overtime period, where both teams collected one shot, respectively. The match remained at 1-1 through 100 minutes of play.
In the second overtime period, ODU took three back-to-back corner kicks to give the Monarchs an advantage. After 110 minutes of play, the match finished in a 1-1 draw, which was the first draw for UNC this season.
Mertcan Akar tallied one save. ODU took seven corner kicks and UNC took just one. Forward Wilschrey collected four shots for ODU.
This is the best result against a top-ranked opponent in program history. The last time ODU faced a No. 1 ranked opponent was on September 13, 2013 when the Monarchs faced Creighton at home, but fell in overtime, 2-1. The Monarchs have faced three other No. 1 ranked opponents in Maryland (2006), St. John's (2002) and Virginia (1996) but dropped those matches.
"A 1-1 tie is a good result against UNC but I'm never happy with a tie, I want to win."
Up Next
ODU travels to Campbell for a midweek matchup on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.