HOOVER, ALABAMA – The names of the schools make the North Carolina vs. UCLA semifinal matchup Friday at the NCAA Men’s College Cup a bit higher profile.

 

More exciting to me, however, is the game’s potential to be a high-powered offensive affair. Both teams have a variety of offensive weapons and like to attack the opposition goal. Carolina (20-2-2) has outscored opponents 55-16 this season, with a lot ofoffensive output from Billy Schuler (15 goals), Ben Speas, Rob Lovejoy, Kirk Urso, Enzo Martinez, Mikey Lopez and even defender Matt Hedges.

 

For UCLA (18-4-1), Chandler Hoffman leads the way with 18 goals but other Bruins making a big contribution to the attack are Kelyn Rowe, Victor Chavez, Ryan Hollingshead, Eder Arreola and Victor Munoz. 

 

Both UNC’s Scott Goodwin and UCLA’s Brian Rowe have stellar goals against averages, due in part to the solid defensive line in front of each.

 

Some of the Bruins have mentioned they will be playing to gain renewed respect for west coast soccer, but UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo’s comments to the media Thursday were more focused on respecting his team’s opponents, the North Carolina Tar Heels.

 

“Carolina is obviously a deserved number one seed. They have a great team,” he said. “We’re respectful of Carolina, but not fearful. We step on that field with a lot of confidence and the ability to win the match tomorrow.”

 

The event also is a homecoming for Bruins forward Chandler Hoffman. The goal-scoring whiz is from this area, and he feels it may have just been in the cards for him to get this opportunity.

 

“Once we found out the final four was in Birminham, I felt like this was our year to make it,” Hoffman, who scored 18 goals this season, said. “So being back here (where) my friends and family get to see me is just unbelievable.”

 

Carolina coach Carlos Somoano reflected on the effort to he and his staff have put forth to put together a winning team in this, his first season as head coach (while UNC is in the College Cup for the 4th consecutive year, only 3 of this year’s starters were in the first 11 last season - Kirk Urso, Scott Goodwin, Enzo Martinez)

 

“Putting a college soccer team together is hard for anybody every year, because one of the things that becomes a challenge is the time. You feel like you’re always up against time. You don’t have a long preseason or much time to get new players integrated in, so it requires a lot of hard work, a lot of focus, great staff, good players and some luck.,” he said. “We were fortunate that we had those ingredients, and we’ve put it together so far. Our focus has been on always moving forward, always trying to get better, and we’re still there right now. We have another day to try and get better before we play UCLA, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Tar Heels midfielder Kirk Urso said his team will continue to have an attacking mindset in this weekend’s matches.

 

“We want to get forward,” Urso said. “Our midfield is pretty dynamic in getting guys forward. We want to join the three forwards up there, and our outside backs obviously pick and choose their times to go.”