No. 16 North Carolina had to dig out of two different holes Friday night, and the Tar Heels did enough to leave Koskinen Stadium with a 2-2 draw against Duke.
UNC found its equalizers through Nico Loebus and Luca Nikolai, but despite carrying plenty of the pressure late, the Tar Heels never got the finishing touch for a winner in a tense rivalry match in Durham.
Duke struck first in the 15th minute when Jack Ottley was brought down in the box and Sol Arbib converted the penalty for a 1-0 lead. Carolina answered five minutes later with a set-piece strike, as Nikolai sent in a free kick and Loebus turned and ripped it home to make it 1-1.
The Blue Devils went back ahead in the 40th minute on Ethan Congleton’s low, hard shot that slipped past Alan Rutkowski, sending Duke into halftime up 2-1.
North Carolina came out more aggressively in the second half while Duke sat deeper, and the pressure eventually paid off. After Ryan Zellefrow slipped Joschi Schelb into danger and Schelb went down in the box, the original no-call was overturned by VAR. Nikolai handled the penalty and buried it for his fourth spot kick goal of the year, tying the match at 2-2 in the 64th minute.
UNC pushed from there and stayed on the front foot, but the breakthrough never came in the final 25 minutes.
The Tar Heels had threatened before the first goal too. Max Fisher had a look in the 12th minute that missed wide, and Schelb tested Duke’s keeper in the 14th minute with a shot that led to a double save when Zellefrow tried to pounce on the rebound.
Loebus’s equalizer was his first goal of the season and the second of his career. Nikolai’s penalty was his fourth of the year and 12th of his career, and he is now a perfect 4-for-4 from the spot. His assist on the Loebus goal was his sixth of the season and 19th of his career.
UNC is now 7-2-4 overall and 3-1-3 in ACC play, while Duke moves to 7-8-1 and 1-5-1 in the conference. It was only the fourth time this season that Carolina had conceded the opening goal.
North Carolina returns home Tuesday to face William & Mary at 6 p.m. at Dorrance Field at Play2Dream Legacy Stadium, with the match set to air on ACCNX.
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