In sports, every team has an opponent that they can’t ever seem to beat.
The Denver Broncos can’t ever seem to get by the Kansas City Chiefs (snapped a 16-game skid this year). The Atlanta Braves seem to struggle against the Philadelphia Phillies in postseason play. In recent years, particularly since Tom Brady retired, the New England Patriots struggle against the Miami Dolphins.
In the collegiate sports landscape, UNC has its own version of kryptonite – Oregon State.
The Tar Heels’ latest misfortune against their cross-country rivals came on Saturday night, when the UNC men’s soccer team dropped a 1-0 home contest in the NCAA quarterfinals. This was Carolina’s best finish since 2020, when it lost in the College Cup semifinals to Marshall.
The visiting Beavers scored in the 36th minute, then were able to keep Carolina off the board despite six Tar Heel corners. Saturday night was UNC’s first time failing to score since Friday, Oct. 27, when it lost a low-scoring, 1-0 contest at rival UVA.
Saturday’s lost continued a long string of misfortune for the Tar Heels – not in men’s soccer, but in general against Oregon State.
Between baseball, women’s basketball and men’s soccer, UNC drops to 4-7 all-time against the Beavers.
The most memorable Carolina-Oregon State matchups have come in the College World Series, where UNC has only won twice in seven tries (Saturday, June 24, 2006 and Saturday, June 16, 2018. Carolina made both the 2006 and 2007 CWS finals – only to lose to the Beavers in the finals both times.
UNC’s 2018 win had baseball fans hopeful the streak was over, only for a loss four days later to re-start the pain.
Regardless of when the next UNC-Oregon State matchup is, let’s just say the Tar Heels may not want to schedule the Beavers.
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