WILLIAMSBURG, Va.— For the first time since 2017 a crowd of 1,000-plus made their way to Martin Family Stadium to watch William & Mary men's soccer. The 1,008 in attendance watched the Tribe host No. 7 North Carolina in an entertaining match that saw the Tar Heels claim a 5-2 win.
 
1,476 fans watched the Tribe take on Columbia in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, the last time a four-digit crowd was recorded at Martin Family Stadium.
 
UNC wasted no time kicking off an action-packed first half, scoring the opening goal in the 5^th minute.
 
Minutes later the seventh-ranked ranked Tar Heels seemed poised to add another, but Ryan Eapen was up to the task in net for the Tribe, making a diving save to his right.
 
The first opportunity of the night for the Tribe was an extremely dangerous one via Tre Barrett in the 16^th minute. The Tribe freshman fired a shot from just inside the penalty spot off a cross and rattled the right post. Before a W&M player could snag the rebound a Tar Heel got to it and cleared the danger.
 
UNC added another in the 24^th minute to make it 2-0, but the Tribe quickly provided an answer.
 
After earning a corner Barrett and Augie Cooper executed a give-and-go to perfection in the 28^th minute. The result was a clean look at goal for Cooper from 17 yards out as he fired a frozen rope to beat the keeper to his right.
 
The goal was the first of the season for the Williamsburg native, while the assist for Barrett was his team-leading fifth.
 
Less than 90 seconds later Diogo Branco looked to use that momentum to equalize the game for the Tribe but had his chance swallowed up by the UNC goalkeeper.
 
The Tar Heels were able to add another tally before the half and took a 3-1 lead to the dressing room. The visitors led in shots 7-5 through 45 minutes.
 
After the break the action on the pitch picked right back up with UNC expanding their lead to 4-1 just two minutes into the frame.
 
Eapen made a fantastic sliding stop in the 61^st minute as a Tar Heel attacker had a clean charge to the net. That only deterred UNC momentarily, however, as they were able to score just a minute later.
 
Never hanging their heads in front of an energetic home crowd, the Tribe found the back of the net for the second time in the 72^nd minute.
 
Thor Sigurjonsson played a ball from the far-right side of the field that skipped its way to the opposite side of the box and Gabe Ruitenberg. Ruitenberg made a slight move to his right before firing a shot that kicked off the right post and into the back of the net.
 
The goal was the first of the season for Ruitenberg while the assist for Sigurjonsson was the first point of his college career.
 
That strike proved to be the final one of the night, as UNC would take the match 5-2.
 
The final shot tally favored the Tar Heels 15-11. Eapen made five stops in goal for the Tribe on the evening.
 
Up Next
The Tribe will return to CAA action on Saturday when they travel to Drexel. The match will be at 1 p.m. on FloFC.