Tribe Plays to Scoreless Draw with North Carolina

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew McAdams made 10 saves on the night, including stopping a penalty kick in the second overtime period.

09/19/07 10:45PM

Chapel Hill, N.C. - The William and Mary men’s soccer team turned in a stingy 110-minute defensive performance against ACC foe North Carolina, playing to a 0-0 stalemate at Frentz Field on Wednesday night. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew McAdams came up huge for the Tribe in just his third collegiate start, registering 10 saves, including stopping a penalty kick midway through the second overtime period. The Tribe moved to 2-3-1 on the year, while the Tar Heels are 2-1-3.

“We knew going in that it would be difficult game and had a plan to try and be solid defensively, while looking to counter,” head coach Chris Norris said. “We moved Brock (Jones) to center back, and the whole thing worked well. We were dangerous on the counter, the guys did a great job of defending and Andrew (McAdams) came up big with a kick save on the penalty kick in overtime. Overall, I am pleased with the way the guys performed tonight.”

McAdams’ 10 saves are the most for a W&M goalkeeper since Kris Rake had 10 stops against then-No. 1 Maryland on Sept. 22, 2004. It also marked the most saves by a W&M freshman goalkeeper since Rake made 10 against St. John’s on Sept. 27, 2003. It was the first collegiate shutout of McAdams’ W&M career. The contest also marked the second time in the 12-game series history that W&M shut out North Carolina. The last time, the College tallied a 4-0 win over the Tar Heels in 1996.

Things got interesting in the second overtime period. North Carolina was awarded a penalty kick after junior Joan Carvajal was taken down in the box following a give-and-go with sophomore Bill Dworsky at the 105:30 mark. Junior midfielder Scott Campbell stepped to stop, but was denied by McAdams, who made the kick save to keep the match scoreless.

The Tribe responded with a pair of chances of its own late in the second overtime period. Junior midfielder Doug McBride had back-to-back chances in the 107th and 108th minutes of play for W&M. On the first chance, McBride settled and lifted a shot that was stopped on a leaping save by UNC freshman goalkeeper Tyler Deric. McBride’s second chance a minute later sailed high of the goal.

McAdams was forced to make three saves in the opening 45 minutes of play. Neither team could muster shot on frame until the 27th minute of play when the Tribe rookie stopped a Brian Shriver attempt. North Carolina had another chance on goal in the final seconds of player, but McAdams was up to the task on a Eddie Ababio attempt to send the match to the locker room tied at zero.

W&M came out firing in the second half, taking the opening two shots of the half. Less than three minutes into the second stanza, junior midfielder Doug Ernst sent a shot wide of the Tar Heel goal, before freshman midfielder Nathaniel Baako lifted an attempt high of the mark in the 50th minute of play.

The Tar Heels came close to the game’s first goal in the 63rd minute of a corner kick from Michael Callahan. Zach Lloyd got on the end of the corner and beat McAdams, but the Tribe defense was there to keep the ball out of the net and UNC off the scoreboard.

McAdams came up with back-to-back saves on attempts by Scott Campbell less than a minute part in the 71st minute of play. The Palm Harbor, Fla., native denied UNC’s leading scorer Dworsky three minutes later as well on a header off a 40-yard free kick from Callahan.

The Tribe will battle its second ACC opponent in as many matches when it hosts No. 15 Virginia Tech on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. The Hokies have won five straight matches after opening the year with a 4-0 loss to VCU. Last season, Virginia Tech tallied a 1-0 win in Blacksburg over the Tribe.

Box Score