The North Carolina Tar Heels played in their fourth College Cup final and won their second NCAA title with a 1-0 win over Charlotte this weekend on a goal by Ben Speas in the 65th minute. It was just the third Division I final contested by in-state rivals. It was also the second title in as many seasons for Speas, who was a member of Akron’s 2010 championship team.

The game hardly looked like a given for Carolina against a 49ers team that had never advanced to the final in their history. Charlotte was the more aggressive offensive team, and though they had chances in the first half, it was really in the second 45-minute stanza that they came alive, tallying a 14-3 advantage in shots. That included a flurry of five shots in the final three minutes, one of which hit the bottom of the crossbar.

The aggressive style of play was in complete contrast to Charlotte’s efforts in the semi-final, a 4-1 shootout win over Creighton after a scoreless tie through regulation play. Creighton came in as the #2 ranked team in the country featuring four All-Americans, and goalie Brian Holt who led the nation with a 0.206 goals against average. The 49ers laid back more in this game and survived two shots that hit the crossbar. But they got stronger as the game went on and came alive in the shootout, sparked by the play of two goalkeepers, Klay Davis and Gavin Dawson.

Saturday’s semifinal against UCLA admittedly took a lot out of the Tar Heels. They came from behind twice to tie the Bruins in regulation at 2-2. The game almost didn’t go to a shootout, though. Carolina hit the post three times, and UCLA goalie Brian Rowe tipped away a bouncing shot off the foot of Kirk Urso as time expired on the second OT period.

Urso and Drew McKinney scored against Rowe in the shootout to give Carolina a 2-0 lead, and after UNC keeper Scott Goodwin stopped two shots and another was pushed wide, it was Speas who put in the game winner on a looping shot that Rowe had no chance to save.

North Carolina coach Carlos Somoano became just the second coach in history to win a national title in his first season.

“The two games that we played this weekend were unbelievable,” said Somoano. “I can’t say enough about our group.”