Wake Forest and North Carolina battled to a 2-2 tie on Friday night at Spry Stadium

Wake Forest and North Carolina battled to a 2-2 tie on Friday night at Spry Stadium.

Perhaps it was appropriate that the game was a tie because it's likely the two will see each other in the ACC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament.

"I'm sure we will see them down the road," said defender Ike Opara of the Deacons, who returned after a six-game absence while he played with the U.S. Under-20 national team in Egypt. "I'd like to get a piece of them, especially since they got us last year. It's a good rivalry when we play, and really nobody can brag now because it was tie."

In front of 3,661 at Spry Stadium, the Tar Heels jumped out to 1-0 lead scoring on their first shot of the game.

Alex Dixon scored on goalie Akira Fitzgerald by chipping a pass from Michael Farfan just over the onrushing Fitzgerald from about 18 yards out two minutes into the game.

The Deacons came back four minutes later as Sam Redmond scored his first goal of the season converting a header off a cornerkick from Austin da Luz. Redmond's goal tied it 1-1, and it was also the Deacons' first shot of the game.

There were plenty of start and stops in the 110 minutes of actual game time. The game started a half hour late because the head official was late, and then there were two lengthy injury delays (North Carolina's Cameron Brown and goalie Brooks Haggerty).

Through it all, however, Coach Jay Vidovich of the Deacons was pleased with the way his team battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits.

"I was very pleased with our response after the first goal," Vidovich said. "We gave up an early, stupid goal and we rebounded very quickly. Right there showed some mental toughness from a young team."

The Tar Heels took a 2-1 lead with 33:30 left in regulation on a penalty kick from Michael Farfan, who was taken down in the penalty area by Luke Norman and Nick Courtney. There was 10-minute delay before the penalty kick because Brown had to be taken off the field on a stretcher after suffering a right-leg injury.

The Deacons tied the game 2-2 with less than nine minutes to go in regulation as Andy Lubahn converted off a pass from Zack Schilawski. Redmond also made a nice pass on the play to Schilawski as the Deacons dug the ball out of the left corner.

"After we gave up the PK, we came back to get the next one, so I'm excited about the personality of the team and they aren't going to give up," Vidovich said.

Coach Elmar Bolowich of the Tar Heels, whose team beat the Deacons 1-0 in last year's College Cup semifinals, said that injuries are mounting. "We have six seniors and five of them are out now," he said. "There are three of those seniors that are out for the season, so we're just basically trying to get through the season."

After playing the 90 minutes of regulation the teams played two 10-minute overtimes, but neither one could score in the overtimes as fatigue was evident for both teams.

"Tonight it seemed like our goals were more manufactured and kind of came from thin air," Redmond said. "But a goal is a goal. A tie is a disappointing result, but it beats the alternative."

Vidovich was also pleased with how Opara fit back into the Deacons. He looked winded at times, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. He arrived back from Egypt on Tuesday and has been catching up on schoolwork and taking mid-term exams.

Opara joked he thought it was Tuesday night.

"I think we did all right, but we did make some mistakes," Opara said. "We took too long to get going early in the game and they got that goal in the first two minutes. We were chasing the game for the most part."

When Haggerty went out with an elbow injury with under five minutes to go in regulation, freshman Scott Goodwin saw his first action of his career. He didn't get tested that much during the rest of the regulation or the overtimes and wasn't credited with any saves.

"That's what typically happens when we play Wake, it's an all out battle that's face paced," Bolowich said. "I thought Wake was better in the first half and we were better in the second half."

The Deacons, who are 7-2-2 and 2-1-1 in the ACC, managed 17 shots and on defense Fitzgerald made several outstanding saves.

"We showed our character by getting that second goal to tie it up," Opara said. "I think we are showing we can play, but we just need to be more consistent. We had chances to win the game in overtime and we didn't do so."

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