North Carolina hands Virginia Tech men’s soccer 4th straight loss – Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG — Goals were once again hard to come by for the slumping Virginia Tech men’s soccer team Sunday.

Fourth-ranked North Carolina scored four second-half goals to beat the Hokies 4-0 at Thompson Field.

The injury-plagued Hokies (7-8, 2-5 ACC), who were coming off a 4-1 loss at William and Mary last Tuesday, suffered their fourth straight defeat. They were shut out on Sunday for the third time in this skid.

“We keep losing players,” Virginia Tech coach Mike Brizendine said. “When you have four or five starters that you’re planning on and they’re not with you in your lineup, … it’s hard.

“We’ve tried to mask it as well as we can and I think we’ve done a great job doing it, but we’ve just run out of legs.”

Virginia Tech, which knocked off then-No. 1 Notre Dame last month, has played a challenging schedule. So Brizendine figures his team can still reap an NCAA tournament at-large bid if it has a .500 record on selection day. Tech has one regular-season game left — at Pittsburgh (8-7, 2-5) on Friday — and will play in the ACC tournament.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be an easy feat,” Brizendine said.

Tech advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals last year and was ranked No. 17 in the preseason coaches poll this year.

“Last year were more of a group,” senior goalkeeper Ben Lundgaard said. “This year we’ve had some trouble meshing together after losing some big-time seniors last year. And we’re still working on it, which it’s late in the season to be doing that.”

The Hokies rank last in the ACC in goals scored (18).

Midfielder Rory Slevin, a returning starter who has three assists this year, has been sidelined since suffering a knee injury in an Oct. 3 win at South Carolina. Tech has not won since that game.

“When Rory got hurt, we’ve struggled since that,” Brizendine said. “You can’t keep losing special players.”

Brizendine hopes Slevin can return for the ACC tournament.

Forward Nico Quashie, who scored two goals in the 2016 NCAA tournament, has missed the entire season with a hamstring injury.

Defender Will Mejia, a returning starter, missed his fourth straight game Sunday. Following the win over South Carolina, he was suspended for a violation of team rules.

“I’ve got guys starting for me that I didn’t think would ever see the field,” Brizendine said.

The Hokies have allowed 12 goals during this four-game skid. They rank last in the ACC in goals allowed with 28.

“We’re making a lot of silly mistakes on defense,” Tech forward Marcelo Acuna said.

“We just didn’t defend well [Sunday],” Brizendine said. “We took a couple breaks. Against a team like that, you can’t take breaks.”

Sunday’s game was scoreless at halftime. UNC coach Carlos Somoano, whose team made the NCAA semifinals last year, lectured his squad at halftime.

“We played lethargic in the first half,” Somoano said. “We just tried to increase our tempo and intensity [in the second half]. I gave them a little something to think about at halftime.”

The Tar Heels (13-2-1, 5-1-1), who entered the game ranked fifth nationally with 2.6 goals per game, responded in the second half.

“They came out [in that half] playing fast and I don’t think we were ready for it,” Lundgaard said.

Zach Wright scored just one minute into the second half.

“Playing teams this good, an open man 12 yards out, he’s going to bury it,” Lundgaard said. “It was just a miscommunication by our guys.”

Raul Aguilera scored in the 56th minute.

“Once we jumped on them in the second half and kind of shocked them, it took a little bit of their intensity away,” Somoano said.

In the 63rd minute, Mauricio Pineda and Cam Lindley scored 13 seconds apart.

Alec Smir had one save for UNC, which clinched the Coastal Division title for the third straight year.

The Tar Heels held Acuna, who has nine goals this year, to just one shot.

What was their strategy in marking him?

“We went to church,” Somoano cracked. “He’s so good. … You just have to work really hard collectively.”

North Carolina beat Tech for the fourth straight year. The Hokies have not scored in the series since 2011.