Hofstra men's soccer team eliminated from NCAA Tournament by UNC
Hofstra's Teddy Baker, left, and Ryan Carmichael look on during their NCAA Tournament match against North Carolina on Sunday. Credit: Hofstra Athletics /Alexis Friedman
The upset certainly would have been special, but Hofstra’s NCAA Tournament run ended in gut-wrenching fashion Sunday night in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
No. 3 North Carolina eliminated the 14th-ranked Pride on penalty kicks, 5-3, after tying the score at 2-2 with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
The Pride (14-4-4) entered Dorrance Field making their second third-round appearance in three years after the previous week’s 2-0 win over Yale.
Sunday’s first half featured three goals, all within a nine-minute stretch.
The Pride opened the scoring in the 18th minute when midfielder Teddy Baker slipped in a rebound off an assist from 2023 CAA Player of the Year Eliot Goldthorp.
The Tar Heels’ Ahmad Al Qaq headed in a cross from Andrew Czech to tie it at 1-1 in the 21st minute.
Hofstra reclaimed the lead in the 27th minute. A pressing Pride attack forced North Carolina into an errant pass across their penalty area that Ryan Carmichael intercepted before striking a short-side blast past goalkeeper Andrew Cordes for his 17th goal of the season to put Hofstra back on top 2-1, which is how the game went to halftime.
The Tar Heels had conceded only 12 goals all season, and never more than one in a match.
Czech threatened less than a minute into the second half, ringing a shot off the crossbar. Hofstra committed a foul soon after and the Tar Heels kept up the pressure, generating a pair of shots in the next minute.
North Carolina persisted, striking the crossbar again, this time off the foot of Al Qaq in the 80th minute.
Martin Vician evened the score at 2-2 in the 86th minute, finishing off a set-piece feed from Quenzi Huerman with a stunning header into the far corner.
A pair of scoreless overtime periods sent the game to penalties. The Tar Heels kept up the pressure late, generating four shots and forcing three corners in the waning five minutes of regulation, but Hofstra held on to get to the whistle and a chance at regrouping for overtime.
The Pride generated the lone shot of the first 10-minute overtime period when Carmichael missed high, and the sides traded single shots in the second overtime with neither finding the twine.
A hard-fought match with a quarterfinal berth within Hofstra’s grasp late in what would have been a major upset would come down to penalty kicks.
The Tar Heels converted on all five of their penalties, and Cordes denied Stefan Mason’s attempt in the second round for the only save of the shootout.
But it was enough to end Hofstra’s run.