Ben Speas reacts to winning the 2011 National Championship as time expires. (Photo by Jeffrey A. Camarati)
Note: UNC athletic teams have won 50 NCAA and 295 ACC championships. The Carolina Champions series asks Tar Heels to share memories from title-winning seasons.
It was legendary head coach Dean Smith who once said that Carolina was a “women’s soccer school,” and with 22 national titles in program history, it’s easy to see why. However women’s soccer isn’t the only team in Chapel Hill to find success on “the pitch.” The men’s program boasts two titles of their own.
The most recent of the men’s soccer national titles came in 2011, when Carlos Somoano became only the second-ever first-year head coach to bring home a men’s soccer national championship. Taking the helm of the program that had made three consecutive College Cups prior to his first season as head coach, Somoano led the Tar Heels to a 21-2-3 record and the program’s third (and still most recent) ACC Tournament Championship. Carolina dispatched Coastal Carolina, Indiana, Saint Mary’s and UCLA en route to a National Championship match against Charlotte, in which the Tar Heels won 1-0.
The 2011 Tar Heels were an upperclassmen-heavy team, led by senior captain Kirk Urso and all-Americans Matt Hedges, Enzo Martinez and Billy Schuler. That same year, they were joined by a former foe, midfielder Ben Speas, who transferred to Carolina by way of the University of Akron, which had defeated the Tar Heels in the 2009 Men’s College Cup.
In the 2011 National Championship game, it was Speas, the National Player of the Year that season, who took on several 49er defenders late in the second half, taking a chance on a left-footed shot that narrowly escaped the reach of the Charlotte goalkeeper. It was the game’s only goal, and the Tar Heels hoisted their second National Championship trophy.
Now living in Cary following a 10-year professional soccer career, Speas took a few minutes to recount the 2011 season.
Q: What do you remember the most about the 2011 season? Were there any challenges or big moments that come to mind?
Speas: Transferring in that season, I was new to the group. For me, I was learning about everyone, but I was familiar with UNC. I transferred from Akron, and I played UNC in the College Cup two years previous in 2009. I had known a lot of the players at UNC, and then Carlos [Somoano] took over from Elmar [Bolowich]. It was Carlos’ first season, and he and the team took me in. The leadership is what I remember the most, not just from Carlos, but also from the leaders on the team.
I was an upperclassman, but I was new. In that scenario, you’re not coming in as a leader. But there was a great core of leaders. The captain was Kirk Urso, who passed away in 2012. His leadership drove the group. He obviously had been to the College Cup many times before, and this was his senior year. The mindset for all those senior guys was “this is our year.” The leadership of that group is what I will always remember.
Q: Thinking back to that College Cup final, what do you remember most about those two games in Hoover, Alabama? Your game-deciding goal felt like you ran past everyone on Charlotte’s team in one possession.
Speas: I have a lot of good memories from the semi-final. We played against UCLA, and that was back and forth. I think it was two to two, and then we won in penalties. So that one was a crazy game.
Then we got to Charlotte and the championship game, obviously, and I don’t know a better way to describe it, but it was an ugly game. They were shutting us down. It was very defensive. We couldn’t get things going how we did in the previous game. The one thing about the best teams, they find a way to win. It doesn’t matter if it’s pretty, it doesn’t matter what it is. If you get the win that’s really all that matters, and people still remember 13 years later.
We couldn’t get things going on the offensive end. It was scrappy. When I got the ball in the second half, I was just trying to get the ball up the field, and then things started opening up, and I just kept going. Honestly, there was a point when I was dribbling, where I was trying to look for somebody to pass to; I think the only person was Rob Lovejoy, who was nearby. I was just going to pass it, but no one was near, and so I was just taking my chance. I was just going for it, taking my chance. I took my shot, and it went in. I felt really fortunate, and it is an awesome memory. We held on like crazy after that. There were lots of sequences after that where we just dug in. Like I said, the best teams find a way to win.
Q: What did winning that championship mean to you at the time?
Speas: Obviously, there are lots of different emotions with it. More than personal, it’s about the group whenever you win as a team, because it just solidifies your bond for the future. I give all the credit to the guys, welcoming me into that group, and that includes the coaching staff. Yes, it was an awesome feeling, but the best part is achieving your goal with the group of guys that you worked so hard for.
For me, I knew I wasn’t a part of the three College Cups prior, but those were the guys I was in the trenches with each day, and we wanted to win it. And especially for Kirk [Urso], that was Kirk’s final thing. Like I said, he pushed the group. His leadership pushed the group, and he gave everything. You can see that in the video clips and the College Cup. It was just a great feeling to accomplish as a group of guys.
Q: What meaning does that championship win have for you now, 13 years later?
Speas: That season solidifies the Tar Heel family for me. I look back and, as a 20- or 21-year-old, you don’t realize the impact that Tar Heel family has. I’ve talked to the current team since, and what I’ll always say is the opportunities that you have at Chapel Hill — the networking, the people, the alumni — you got to soak in all of that. It could be my most memorable game in my career, because it means a lot to me. And like I said, winning helps. Everyone remembers the win, the trophy, but it’s the people who stick with me. Personally, I’m nearby. I live near Chapel Hill now. I got the jerseys on my wall and it’s important for me and my family. It’s cool to tell my children about. It’s definitely special.
Q: After your college career, you played 10 years professionally, but are now out of the game. Is there anything from soccer that translates to your career now?
Speas: I’ve been outside of soccer since 2020, when I retired, and have been spending most of my time with my family and my children. My son plays now, and he’s 8. I play with him. My daughters are younger than him so that’ll be coming up. Now I’m a claims supervisor, completely outside of soccer.
Honestly, I had my eyes set on coaching a little bit, but now I’m in supervision/management. It goes along the same way, all those lessons you’ve learned as a student-athlete or even a professional player: being the best you can be, working hard for something, having a goal and trying to implement that into my role now.
As told to Andrew Stilwell ’12. Support for UNC Athletics programs helps propel excellence on the field and beyond. Learn more.
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