Sports Monday
Humble
Coaches
Awarded
On Friday night, 1,556 people
witnessed history at Fetzer
Field.
North Carolina men’s soccer coach
Elmar Bolowich became the win
ningest coach in program history with
his team’s 2-0 win against South
Carolina. Bolowich has a career
record of 175-97-14 in 14 seasons at the
helm.
The man he passed, Marvin Allen,
amassed 174
wins in 28 sea
sons, but it is
worth noting that
teams didn’t
plays as many
games in a sea
son when Allen
was the coach.
Following
Friday’s game,
Bolowich ignored
any significance
that could’ve, or
TIM CANDON
UNSIGNED &
UNDRAFTED
even should’ve, come with the accom
plishment.
To him, it was just an important win
for the Tar Heels as they closed out
their regular season and begin their
march toward a second straight nation
al championship.
I’ve interviewed Bolowich following
each of the UNC games I’ve covered
this season, and I find him to be an
intriguing individual.
But since I’ve spoken to him so
many times, I suppose his demeanor
Friday really shouldn’t be all that sur
prising.
During games, he usually sits on the
bench, shifting only to re-cross his
legs, or to sit on top of the backrest of
the bench.
I only recall one time when I saw
him up off the bench, but I don’t keep
any eye on him for the entire game, so
there’s sure to be others.
But poise is a characteristic of a
great coach. He hasn’t won 175 games
by being a bozo.
He’s done such a good job at
preparing his players, that he doesn’t
need to bark instructions at them for
90 minutes.
After each game, we stand on the
Fetzer Field turf, and he answers all
my questions. He’s not at all conde
scending, and he’s always willing to
talk.
He often appears unfazed, regard
less of the match’s outcome.
What strikes me most about
Bolowich, though, is how passionate
he is about soccer. It’s difficult to put a
label on, but take away the obnoxious
ness of Dick Vitale and just look at
how much he loves college basketball,
and I think you get a reasonable com
parison.
And Bolowich’s attitude has perme
ated down to his players.
Following any game, any players
are quick to point out the performance
of a fellow teammate before talking
about themselves.
But Bolowich’s nonchalant and
ambivalent attitude toward his person
al success is a characteristic increas
ingly seen throughout the sports
world, but especially here in Chapel
Hill.
When Sylvia Hatchell won her
600th game last March, she was more
concerned with her team’s meeting
with Duke in the ACC Tournament
championship game the following
evening.
Last fall, when Anson Dorrance
won his 500th game, he was quick to
credit the teams that had played for
him and won all those games.
When Dean Smith won his NCAA
record 877th game in March 1997, he
brushed it aside and treated like any of
the other 876 wins.
But it’s important to note, all these
coaches had the prying eyes of the
media on hand to get the inside story
on how it feels to be so successful.
So they’re hit with an interesting
par adox. They must decide if they
want to share their moment everyone,
or humbly keep it within the close-knit
family of their respective teams.
Usually, at least here at North
Carolina, they choose the latter.
So why don’t these coaches give
any credence to their accomplish
ments?
It’s simple: they were hired to win,
and they’re just doing their jobs.
Tim Candor) can be reached at
tcandon@aol.com.
itiwMßgKj£ Wti ir w> r-if
•^SjjgV
w . ,• v ,
DTH/BETH FLOYD
UNC goalkeeper Amy Tran (above) dives to make a save
Friday against Maryland. Tran had 5 saves in the game.
Clemson Crushes Lackluster UNC
By Kelly Lusk
Sports Editor
North Carolina coachjohn Bunting’s
headset flew off, and he threw his play
book onto the ground late in the first
quarter of Saturday’s game against
Clemson.
Another penalty, another shoddy
defensive performance and another loss
for the Tar Heel football team.
Clemson coach Tommy Bowden,
whose team
became bowl
eligible for
the fourth
time in four
years with
—
Football
Clemson 42
UNC 12
Saturday’s 42-12 win against UNC, also
removed his headset during the course
of the game.
But his wires came off in a much
more relaxed fashion, when he real
ized he could just sit back and enjoy
the waning minutes of the fourth quar
ter.
“It was the first time with five min
utes to go that I could actually take the
headset off and enjoy an afternoon,”
Bowden said.
Bowden’s Tigers sucked any enjoy
ment out of the afternoon for the Tar
Heels, who went 0-6 at home for the
first time in half a century.
Bunting might have had some choice
words for the referees in the first quar
ter, but he had trouble explaining his
disappointment after the game.
“Real, real bad. Real bad feeling. I
don’t know how to describe it any
worse than that,” Bunting said. “If you
guys can come up with some other
words, I’ll use those. I don’t know how
to come up with any other words worse
than (it’s) the worse that it’s ever been -
I’ve ever felt.”
It wasn’t the Tar Heels worst perfor
mance so far this season, but just the
culmination of so many botched plays
and frustrating losses -and the realiza
tion that a win at home would not come
to fruition for the 11 seniors on the ros
ter - made the post-game interview
area in the Kenan Football Center a sea
of downtrodden faces.
“I can’t really explain the feeling,”
Record-Breaking Swimmer Ericson Still in Pool
By Jacob Karabell
Staff Writer
At the 1981 ACC swimming champi-
onships at Clemson, North
Carolina freshman backstro
ker Eric Ericson called his
parents and told them not to
come to the meet. He was
feeling sick and did not even
swim the day before his event,
the 100-meter backstroke.
But somehow, he won it.
The win was Ericson’s first
of four consecutive victories
in the event at ACCs, to
which he added three consec
utive wins in the 200-meter
backstroke from 1982-84.
Those accomplishments, along with his
four All-America selections in the 100,
rank Ericson as one of UNC’s greatest
swimmers of all time.
A i * /) . I
SI mi^b^BE^^B
. " J
DTH/MIKE MESSIER
Clemson's Altroy Bodrick (42) tackles North Carolina wideout Sam Aiken (88) in Saturday's 42-12 UNC loss at
Kenan Stadium. Aiken caught eight passes for 58 yards for a struggling Tar Heel offense.
senior comerback Kevin Knight said.
“I’m hurting bad right now.”
Clemson’s 533 yards of offense was
n’t the most North Carolina’s allowed
this year, but becoming the fourth oppo
nent to rack up 500-plus on the Tar
Heels speaks volumes.
UNC has allowed opponent’s run
ning backs to rack up 100-yard perfor
mances before, but the Tigers had two
players torch the Tar Heel defense for
triple-digit compilations.
Tailbacks Bernard Rambert and Tye
Hill ran for 106 and 105 yards, respec
tively. Neither had ever surpassed 60
yards in a game before Saturday.
Similar to last week’s 59-7 loss to
Maryland, North Carolina started off
strong before losing its footing.
Knight opened the game’s scoring by
sacking Tiger quarterback Charlie
“(UNC) kind of felt like home to
me,” Ericson said.
Ericson began swimming around the
age of 6. It did not take long for him to
adopt the backstroke, which
allowed Ericson to keep his
face out of the water and might
have been easier on his asthma
Before he knew it, after an
impressive swim at a junior
national competition when he
was 15, colleges were anxious
to recruit the budding talent.
“He was tall, talented and
just incredibly gifted,” said
UNC coach Frank Comfort.
While several West Coast
universities were recruiting
Ericson, the decision came
For the next several
months, The Daily Tar
Heel will profile former
UNC athletes who were
among the ACC’s best.
Next week:
Women's Basketball
down to UNC and Southern Methodist.
Although he had participated in an
Olympic training camp with SMU’s
coach, Ericson just could not turn down
Field Hockey Falls to Maryland;
Fails to Qualify for NCAA Tourney
By Brandon Coward
Staff Writer
DURHAM - With the continuation of the
North Carolina field hockey team’s season
hanging in the balance, winning the ACC tour
nament was UNC’s last chance to earn a berth
in the NCAA tournament.
Against No. 4 Maryland on Friday, the Tar
Heels built a two-goal
lead, but saw it evap
orate as the Terps
scored three unan
swered goals to win
the match 3-2, ending
I Field Hockey
UNC 2
Maryland 3
the Tar Heels’ season early for the first time
since 1982.
“I thought it was a well-played game, back
and forth, very exciting for the fans and the
players alike,” said UNC coach Karen Shelton.
“Both teams train hard all year to play games
like (this one). It could have gone either way.”
The Tar Heels took the field fired up and
controlled the tempo for most of the first half.
Whitehurst, who started in his second
collegiate game Saturday, in the end
zone for a safety. Tar Heel quarterback
CJ. Stephens connected with tight end
Bobby Blizzard to put North Carolina
ahead 9-0 on the very next drive.
“We’re almost a very good team,”
Stephens said. “We almost put together
that perfect drive. We almost score a lot
of points. But unfortunately, almost
doesn’t count.”
That became painfully clear to the
Tar Heels as the game continued.
Clemson waited less than three minutes
to answer with a Whitehurst-Airese
Currie connection, an 83-yard touch
down pass - the longest ever thrown in
Kenan Stadium history.
To start the second quarter, Clemson
did what so many other teams have
done to the Tar Heels and abused them
ACC 50th Anniversary
Top UNC Men’s Swimmers
Player Years Played
John Davis 1988-1991
Yann deFabrique 1992-1995
Phil Drake 1953-1955
Eric Ericson 1981-1984
Kenny Ireland 1977-1980
Charlie Krepp 1955-1957
Thompson Mann 1962-1964
Harrison Merrill 1962-1965
David Monasterio 1990-1993
Phil Riker 1965-1967
Trevor Runberg 1995-1998
UST COMPILED BY BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE FOR THE ACC.
becoming a Tar Heel.
“I told Coach Comfort that Monday
See SWIMMING, Page 7
SIR/ -
Only five minutes
passed before sophomore
Katy Potter’s diving put-in
of a rebound off goalkeep
er Kerry Hearsey left
Potter on the ground and
UNC ahead 1-0.
|g^^ailytarheeUom|
The Tar Heel field
hockey team broke
disappointing records
this season.
Eight minutes later forward Kerry Falgowski
broke downfield, raced around the mshing
goalie and eased a shot into the goal to increase
the Tar Heels’ lead to two.
After a timeout to regroup, a rejuvenated
Maryland squad came out for the last 15 minutes
of the first half, taking over control of the game.
Maryland’s Carissa Messimer took a feed
from midfielder Katrin Rummer and fired a
shot past UNC goalie Amy Tran to make the
score 2-1 to start off the second half.
The Terps continued to test the Tar Heel
defense, consistently forcing penalty comers
and firing off six shots after die break.
Meanwhile, North Carolina’s offense strug
gled, posting only two shots during the half,
despite earning four penalty comers.
on the ground.
Rambert scooted into the endzone to
give the Tigers a lead they would never
relinquish.
Yet another good start for North
Carolina went to waste. The Tar Heels
sputtered and then practically died,
managing only 80 yards in the second
half, while Stephens took a beating, get
ting sacked six times.
North Carolina has allowed an ACC
worst 39 sacks this season.
“We felt great about the start,” UNC
offensive tackle Jeb Terry said. “We got
some momentum going. But then, it
was the same old ... story. Penalties
crept up on us, and ... you saw the end
result.”
The Sports Editor can be reached at
sports@unc.edu.
PHOTO COURTESY OF UNC ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
Former Tar Heel Eric Ericson (above) earned four All-America selections
in the 100-meter backstroke while at North Carolina.
Tar Heels
Confident in
Exhibition
UNC forward Jawad
Williams (left) and the
men's basketball team
cruised to an easy
victory against the EA
All-Stars in an exhibition
Saturday. See Page 5.
INSIDE:
■ Men's soccer sails
past South Carolina.
Page 5
■ Volleyball wins two
ACC matches. Page 7
■ Novice rowers take
home third place.
Page 7
“If I had to point to one thing it would be
corner execution,” said Shelton. “We needed to
score off’our corners and we didn’t do that in
overtime or regulation.”
With 18 minutes left in the half, Kateri Simon
put it in the left side of the goal to tie the game.
Following a timeout with four minutes to
play, the Tar Heels mounted one last attack,
forcing three comers, but no goals.
UNC came out firing in the overtime period,
forcing Hearsey to make two saves.
The game ended with 2:19 left in overtime
when Messimer broke away from the pack and
moved the ball around Tran to freshman Jackie
Ciconte for an open net goal.
Despite the loss, senior Meredith Keller said
she’s just glad to have played in a game with
such excitement and pressure involved.
“I wish the outcome had been different, but
it was a really good feeling,” said Keller. “It’s
why you play the game.”
The Sports Editor can be reached at
, sports@unc.edu.
No Home
Win for
Tar Heels
UNC winless at Kenan
for Ist time since 1952
By James Giza
Senior Writer
Slumped forward on his stool in the
player’s lounge turned media interview
room Saturday in the Kenan Football
Center, Malcolm Stewart looked deject
ed and lisdess.
A reporter approached him, asked a
warm-up question and then popped the
query he and his teammates would field
frequently that afternoon.
flow does it
feel to go winless
at home?
“It feels terri
ble,” Stewart said
quiedy, his voice
creaking. “I mean
He paused.
Then he looked
up. The eyes in
the linebacker’s 6-
foot-3,223-pound
frame were
glassy.
“That’s it.”
The rest of the
North Carolina
football team - particularly his fellow
seniors - certainly felt Stewart’s pain in
the aftermath of UNC’s 42-12 loss to
Clemson.
As if it weren’t difficult enough to
swallow a fifth consecutive defeat, the
Tar Heels also had to come to grips with
the reality that the 2002 season will end
without a win on their home field.
Entering this year, the last and only
other season UNC was shut out at
Kenan Stadium was 1952, the year
before the ACC was formed.
See WINLESS, Page 7
10
Senior linebacker
Malcolm Stewart
had three tackles
in his final
appearance in
Kenan Stadium.