North Carolina are your men's national champions for 2015. They opened up group play with a 2-2 draw over Cal Poly and a win over Iowa State 2-0 to finish 2nd in their group.
North Carolina had a strong start in bracket play with a 4-1 win over Michigan. They played a tough battle with Central Florida in the quarterfinal which ended with an own goal in extra time that saw North Carolina go through.
An even tougher battle came in the semifinal against Illinois which featured a line clearing save by North Carolina and 2 powerful crossbar direct hits just in the first half. The rest of the way saw them play to a 0-0 after extra time. North Carolina had the early advantage in the Kicks from the Mark phase when Illinois missed their first attempt. North Carolina had a chance to advance but could not put the 5th shot home. An opening came in the 9th round when Illinois missed. This time North Carolina did not miss and won the Kicks from the Mark phase 8-7.
The final got off to a quick start with a goal in the 5th minute to put North Carolina ahead. With Penn State pressing the entire match for an equalizer an opening was created late in the match which saw North Carolina slot home the insurance goal in the 80th minute to win the match 2-0.
North Carolina was led by tournament MVP Pearce Veazy and most outstanding goalkeeper Murat Calikoglu. Alex Requarth, Brett Griffith and Eric Rossitch rounded up their placing on the all tournament team with their performances.
The rest of the All Tournament team includes:
Brandon Savino-Penn State
Oluwole Amudipe-Penn State
Derk Simpson-Penn State
Bastion Kleindienst-Illinois
Kyle Lindberg-Illinois
Clayton Alexander-Weber State
Giovanni DiMauro-Central Florida
Congratulations to all and to North Carolina for winning the men's national championship!
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