There were just under five minutes left in the UNC men’s soccer season on Sunday night, with the Tar Heels trailing Hofstra 2-1.
The visiting Pride, who won the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament, clung to its 1-goal advantage for most of the game.
Here came Martin Vician to save the day for Carolina.
In the 86th minute, Vician head home a Quenzi Huerman free kick to tie the game at two. Vician was also one of five Tar Heels to score in the shootout, helping his team capture a 3-2 victory and advance to host Oregon State – in the Elite Eight – on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET.
After both teams failed to score in the two overtime periods, despite plenty of chances to do so, UNC went a perfect 5-for-5 in the shootout. Huerman, Vician, Andrew Czech, Ernest Bawa and Sam Williams all netted goals for the Tar Heels.
With both Williams and Hofstra’s Eliot Goldthorp converting on the shootout’s first two chances, UNC star goalkeeper Andrew Cordes needed to make a crucial save. He did exactly that, which seemed to be the offensive momentum boost Carolina needed to end things.
The Tar Heels lost via shootout to Clemson in the ACC Tournament Final, so I’m sure they were thankful to win Sunday night. They’ll be hosting Oregon State, who is coming off a 7-1, Sweet 16 domination of future ACC school SMU, on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 5 p.m.
If you can’t make it to the game, for which plenty of tickets are still available, you can watch on ESPN+.
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