The UNC Tar Heels finished the season much like their rival Wake Forest: on a hot streak. And while that didn’t end result in ACC Tournament success, the paths of the Demon Deacons and Tar Heels might still cross in the big dance, the NCAA Tournament that starts next week. The Tar Heels have won 12 of their last 15 games and will be a force to be reckoned with despite their loss to Notre Dame in the ACC Tourney.

Here is our look at how the 2017 season played out at the University of North Carolina.

Fast Start but…

UNC opened their 2017 campaign with decisive victories over Providence and Rutgers. The Tar Heels ran into a bit of early trouble in their opener against #12 Providence as the Friars tied things up a two apiece in the first half, but two goals past the hour mark gave the Heels a 4–2 win to start the season.

UNC followed that up with an emphatic 6–1 win over Rutgers, scoring three goals in each half and jumping out to a 2–0 lead within the first ten minutes of the match.

While averaging five goals a game was a great start that the Tar Heels needed, the team hit a bump early in the season when they traveled to Wilmington to take on in-state rival, UNCW.

A goal in the 27th minute by UNCW shook the Tar Heels, and they were unable to grab an equalizer in the second half even though they outshot the Seahawks 8 to 3.

The surprising loss did put UNC out of the Top 10 for a week, but they bounced back quickly. However, they did show signs of struggle.

Winning… but barely

After the loss to UNCW, the Tar Heels went on a nine-match winning streak before falling to Wake Forest. Still, a majority of the nine wins during that span were not as dominant as they should’ve been. Six of the nine were by a single goal, some against weak competition, and one of them was an overtime win versus Virginia on Sep. 22.

UNC took care of business in their game that followed their first loss of the season, defeating UNC-Greensboro 1–0 on the road. The Tar Heels then went on to win their ACC opener against Pitt, 2–1. The Tribe of William & Mary put up a good fight against UNC, tying things up twice after going down early in each half but a late goal by Alan Winn sealed a 3–2 win for the Heels, and they would go into their Tobacco Road rivalry game on a hot streak.

Duke was on a hot streak as well and boasted a 4–0–1 record. The Blue Devils certainly did not want their first loss of the 2017 season to come against their rivals, but….

In front over 3,000 people, UNC would score two goals in the first half and goalkeeper Alec Smir would play his heart out in the second half to give his UNC team a win in one of the best Carolina soccer games of 2017.

Back to Dominance

After their win over Duke, UNC went and thrashed George Washington 4–1. Then, the Tar Heels improved to 3–0–0 in ACC play after a 2–1 OT win in Charlottesville over the Virginia Cavaliers.

UNC scored four goals or more for the fourth time in the 2017 season with a 4–0 win against Winthrop. Jelani Pieters’ sixth goal of the season got the Heels started in their win over the Eagles, and UNC recorded their first shutout of the season to improve to 9–0–1.

The Tar Heels recorded two more shutouts after their win against Winthrop, taking down in-state rival North Carolina State 1–0 and just manhandling James Madison, scoring five goals in the second half en route to a 6–0 victory.

The Tar Heels had a good thing going… and they were hoping that the dominant Wake Forest wasn’t going to spoil the fun. And yet….

Carolina Classic

The Tar Heels fell to Wake 2–1 in a classic of a game, another one of the best of 2017. The Tar Heels went down early, but UNC tied things up right at the start of the second half.

Sadly for UNC, a goal by Jon Bakero gave the Deacs a 2–1 lead with just over 20 minutes to play. The Heels were on their heels for the remainder of the match as the Deacs continued to pour on the pressure, and they couldn’t find an equalizer, falling for just the second time this season.

With only two losses, the Tar Heels quickly put this L behind them and pushed forward to finish the rest of the season strong.

More Dominance

Following a nil-nil draw at Louisville, the Tar Heels earned their 12th win of the season, taking down Old Dominion in double overtime 2–1. The Heels followed that up with a 4–0 thumping of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and came home to add another 3–0 win at home to Notre Dame to finish off the regular season.

The Heels clinched the two seed in the ACC and met up with Notre Dame again in the quarterfinals. But this time, the Irish had something other than a loss on their mind.

Early Exit

North Carolina was the more offensive team in their match against Notre Dame on Nov. 5, but the Irish made the most of their few chances and went into the half with a 1–0 lead over UNC.

The Heels then fell two goals down with 15 minutes left to play, and a late goal by Alan Winn was not enough as the Tar Heels fell out of the ACC tournament earlier than anyone expected.

What’s Next

Unlike crosstown rival NC State, there’s zero doubt the Tar Heels will be in the NCAA Tournament this year. However, their early exit in the ACC Tournament might cost them a first round bye. We will see what the committee has to say when the selection show happens next weekend.

The NCAA Tournament begins with first round games on November 16th and the National Championship game is in Philadelphia on December 10th. The Tar Heels will hope to be involved all the way to the end, as this strong program looks to add another trophy to their case mid-December to cap a good, if not great, 2017 regular season.