North Carolina paid back N.C. State with a 4-0 quarterfinals win to advance in the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament at WakeMed Soccer Park Wednesday.

The game was a rematch from last year’s tournament, when the schools met in the same quarterfinals round and played to a scoreless tie until N.C. State advanced on penalty kicks.

“It was a little revenge from last year,” said Tar Heels goalie Scott Goodwin, a sophomore that played at Broughton.

Early this season, North Carolina scratched out a 1-0 win in Raleigh.

“Whenever you’re at home, you feel like you’re a man up,” said N.C. State senior captain Chris Zurner.

But the Wolfpack wasn’t able to keep it close this time.

The No. 1-seed Tar Heels (15-2-1) scored in the 15th minute when sophomore midfielder Martin Murphy headed in a perfectly placed kick from the left corner by junior midfielder Kirk Urso.

Urso threw off the Wolfpack defense on a corner kick, which he tapped to senior midfielder Michael Farfan, who tapped the ball right back to Urso.

Urso sent the ball towards the far corner of the net, guided in by the head nudge from Murphy, a former Green Hope standout.

“Sooner or later,” North Carolina coach Elmar Bolowich said, asked if anybody would figure out a way to defend the play, referred to as a short corner. “Teams know we are doing it, but the defender is 10 yards away.”

North Carolina sophomore forward Enzo Martinez scored the first of his two goals in the 33rd minute from eight yards out into the bottom left corner.

While No. 8-seed N.C. State (10-8-2) had a few scoring chances, North Carolina’s defense swarmed to the ball and snuffed them all out in a first half.

“I think we made good corrections at halftime,” Zuerner said.

While the Wolfpack took control of the ball early in the second half, the Tar Heels’ defenders continued to shut down scoring chances.

“We had to possess the ball and we tried,” said N.C. State coach George Tarantini. “We just came short.”

Tarantini denied that his team was tired, though his team played Tuesday in a 6-3 win over Virginia Tech that didn’t see the game-winning goal until the last 15 minutes.

“I don’t believe in excuses,” Tarantini said.

After N.C. State failed to convert its second half chances, North Carolina scored two more goals.

“For the longest time, they made it very, very difficult for us,” Bolowich said.

Farfan scored from 12 yards, shaking off a Wolfpack defender to then send the ball to the high left corner in the 66th minute.

Martinez scored again in the 81st minute, firing in stride in front of the net on a well-placed pass.

The Heels finished with an 11-1 shots on goal advantage.

With the win, North Carolina will face either No. 4-seed Duke or No. 5 seed Boston College, at 8 p.m. on Friday.

Tarantini, in his 25th season, wouldn’t say whether he would return to coach next year.

“This is not the moment to answer that question,” he said. “I don’t want to take anything from my team.”

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